Zucchini

vegetables · summer gardening · squash family

Grows super fast. Zucchini plants produce fruit so quickly that a mature plant can give you a new zucchini almost every day during growing season. Gardeners joke that they blink and suddenly have huge zucchinis taking over their kitchen.

Best when young. Zucchini tastes best when harvested while immature, when the skin is still soft and the seeds inside haven't hardened yet. Once it gets bigger and matures, it turns into something called a marrow, which is related but not quite the same vegetable.

A vining plant. Zucchini grows on long, sprawling herbaceous vines that spread across the ground or can climb up trellises. Each plant produces big, leafy green leaves alongside its long green fruits.

Super versatile. You can eat zucchini raw, grilled, roasted, fried, or baked into bread and cakes. Its mild flavor and soft texture when cooked make it one of the most adaptable vegetables in the kitchen.