By BRANDY CAVANAGH
Purdue Extension, Elkhart County

This summer has been different with wet weather and you all know about the cooler temperatures. This is great weather for some vegetables that you grow in the garden and zucchini is one of them.

Mother Nature’s rain has also been an issue for growing vegetables and fruits. The variety of temperatures in June, July and now almost August has slowed the maturing of some vegetables such as the tomato. But the warmth of the sun should now help the tomatoes grow and ripen.

The wet and now warm weather is the preferred weather for summer squash and you can almost watch them grow, really. So now is a good time to begin to use zucchini in your healthy eating plan. The Spanish are credited with introducing squash to Europe; they believed the squash to be melons. When you think about it, summer squash has a high water content.

Zucchini is really a European vegetable. We can all thank the Italians for downsizing the huge gourds in the 18th century into the delicate green vegetables we know today as the zucchini.

Zucchini, a dainty vegetable with its elegant flavor and tender flesh, was immediately popular in France as well as Italy. The English acquired the vegetable through the French and therefore called them courgittes, whereas Italian immigrants brought them to America, and we have always called them by their Italian name, zucchini.

Zucchini is best for you when eaten while young and tender and as a vegetable, not in a baked good. A common question is, “is there noticeable difference in flavor between the green and yellow?” Most people would say there is no difference as long as the vegetable is young and tender. The difference in flavor is when the green variety grows large and the skin becomes tough.

When choosing zucchini, select a small, green one. Zucchini lends itself to many food preparation techniques. A couple of ways you might consider are grilling and stuffing. Grilled zucchini are excellent served hot as a side dish, as well as cold in salad.

To grill zucchini, work with a medium hot heat. You can determine this by holding your hand over the coals. If you can hold your hand over the coals for five seconds, it is ready for grilling vegetables.

It is very important for you to brush all vegetables generously with a seasoned oil or even use Italian salad dressing. Plan on grilling the zucchini slices about five minutes on each side, and turn them only once. Grilled zucchini make a wonderful side dish with any meat that you also have grilled.

Some other ideas for summer squash varieties are to serve them sautéed or steamed for use as a side dish. They may be baked with seasoning, cheese and crumbs. When hollowed out, they can be refilled with a seasoned stuffing of meat or their own flesh.

Summer squash can also be puréed for adding to soups, or eaten raw in salads or with dips. The delicate squash blossoms can be stuffed, battered and deep fried.

The other varieties of summer squash that you will find are; crookneck, pattypan, and scallopini. They all should have a thin edible skin and soft, barely developed seeds. Zucchini exist in a wide range of shapes, colors and sizes.

I encourage you to try it for the first time or again in a new recipe. Just include it this summer in your healthy eating plan. Remember, there is so much more to do with zucchini than to make zucchini bread.