It is late summer here in Northern Colorado. Our gardens are producing, which means dealing with abundance. Or a neighbor or friend that has zucchini… lots of zucchini. So. much. zucchini. I am the friend that will take all the zucchini anyone wants to give me. I will take the giant, caveman club sized ones as well. Yeah, I know, I’m awesome. Today, I’m going to share with you just a few of the ways I like to use and put up zucchini and summer squash.
First up, the dreaded giant zucchini.
The biggest zucchini I was given this year was about as long as my dog. I cut the zucchini in half down the middle and then halved those lengthwise. I also cut the stem and bottom ends off. The skin on it was hard, more akin to a spaghetti squash than the tender skin of most zucchini. I don’t enjoy tough skin, so I peeled this one.
This year I decided to save some of the seeds. My friend was overwhelmed with zucchini this year, and I would like to have some prolific plants for next year. It is really easy to get seeds when the zucchini are this big. Zucchini seeds are also among the easiest to prepare and store.
Did you know you can also eat the seeds? They are similar to pumpkin seeds, but a little smaller. Here’s a recipe for roasting pumpkin seeds.
You can also just throw the seeds and pulp away. But I suggest trying to find ways to make use of as much of the blessing of food as you can.
The flesh on this zucchini was hard. Not butternut squash hard, but hard for a zucchini. I decided that it might be able to hold up to fermentation. So I cut some spears from part of it and made pickles. Here’s my method for lacto-fermenting.
For the rest of this zucchini, I cut it into small cubes for freezing. I will add these to spaghetti sauces, taco meat, or where ever I need to add a little to stretch out a meal.
The other zucchini I was given was large, but still had a soft skin. So like above, I cut off the ends, halved, and then quartered this zucchini. Then I grabbed my box grater and grated the entire zucchini.
This I turned into two big loaves of zucchini bread. I used this recipe, with modifications, because it uses a whopping 3 cups of zucchini per loaf. I had just enough to make two loaves.
My modifications to the zucchini bread recipe:
- Replaced the oil with melted butter
- Used a less processed sugar for one loaf. I used honey for the second loaf. I found a great chart for replacing sugar with honey.
- I used unbleached wheat flour for one loaf. I used Bob’s Red Mill 1-for-1 Gluten-Free Flour.
- I used pecans and chocolate chips in both. I used Lily’s chocolate chips for the gluten-free honey loaf.
- I bumped up the spice quantities and added some ground ginger as well.
Summer Squash
Do you call it summer squash, yellow squash, crook-neck, or something else?
Whatever its name, I had two big ones to deal with.
Here’s what I did:
I cut the ‘necks’ off both of the squashes, sliced them into rounds, and put them in a jar to ferment.
I like using the necks of the squash for pickles because they are solid in the center, and stay pleasantly crisp while fermenting.
As for the big ends, I did the same as for the zucchini; cut in half, scooped out the seeds, saved some seeds for next year.
I chose to slice these up and freeze them for later use.
Here are a few more ways I like to use summer squashes and zucchini:
- Zoodles. No, they don’t replace pasta. They are just a fun shape and a fun to eat. Spiralizers are relatively in expensive, and can be used for a variety of things. I like to cook zoodles in butter with garlic and herbs, and a sprinkle of Parmesan.
- Zucchini boats. Tasty and fun. I like to make mine with pizza sauce and toppings.
- Ratatouille. So yummy! It is summer in a bowl.
- Chips. Surprisingly good! I sub out oil for butter, tallow, or lard.
I hope this post helps you become the awesome friend that will say yes to the biggest zucchini life, or your neighbor, throws your way! With just a little work and creativity, you can make sure your family is fed, and make the gardeners in your life happy as well!
I would love to hear how you deal with a bumper crop of summer squashes!