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Post by september on Aug 1, 2019 9:58:31 GMT -5
I've always been a bit confused about what is called summer squash. I know they are varieties that you can eat before they harden their skins, but are they of any use after they get full sized and hard? I've always though of zucchini as summer squash, and to me, it, along with straight necked and crook necked squash all seemed to be clones on one another in flavor and are interchangeable. I've only grown the others by accident, thinking they were forms of zucchini, so didn't pay that much attention to any differences. I've never grown Pattypan squash, it looked like something that would have a harder skin than I like, but the shape is so cute.
What summer squashes have you grown, and comments on differences in flavor and texture and preferences are appreciated!
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Post by brownrexx on Aug 1, 2019 10:12:55 GMT -5
I like the patty pan squash but the SVB got my plant this year. If you pick them when they are really small they are very tasty and taste completely different than zucchini or yellow squash. I usually cut the entire thing into cubes after removing the stem end and then I saute the cubes in olive oil. It is also good cut into slices and grilled. I also like the yellow squash and I usually grow the straight neck variety not because it tastes different but because it is easier to make into slices for the grill. My absolute favorite way to cook it is Baked Parmesan Breaded Squash. It has some oil but is healthier and less messy than frying. I plan to make some of this soon as I just harvested 2 yellow squash. I like zucchini a lot and cook it in multiple ways, the least of which is baked goods although I do like them. It's just too many calories for me and I have a will power problem with desserts. I posted my Baked Parmesan Breaded Squash recipe here. I have tried this recipe with zucchini but we didn't think that it was as good. When I make this I usually add a couple of slices of green tomato for hubby. He said that they are pretty good made this way. notjusttomatoes.proboards.com/post/76311/thread
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Post by paquebot on Aug 1, 2019 11:37:32 GMT -5
As far as I am concerned, there is only one summer squash and that's Patty Pan. First remember them from when I was probably 7 or 8. You won't believe this but I have never grown a zucchini in my entire life and didn't even know what they were until I was almost 18. Didn't care for then and only accept them from others. But I love Patty Pans when they are about 4 inches wide.
Story about my first experience was in USMC boot camp. There was some sort of tomato dish and I looked at it and said that cucumbers did not belong in soup. Someone said that they were squash and I replied that I knew what squash looks like and those things are cucumbers! We had only ever grown Patty Pans and I'd never seen a zucchini.
Martin
The truth is more important than the facts.
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Post by brownrexx on Aug 1, 2019 12:10:01 GMT -5
Update to say that if you have not tried a patty pan - you should. They are so much firmer than other summer squash and if you think that summer squash is mushy then you might like this one.
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Post by Gianna on Aug 1, 2019 12:48:15 GMT -5
I grew up only eating zucchini. Dad was Italian, and that is what he was familiar with, and grew. But as I got older and gardening myself, I tried growing pattypans. And love them.
For taste, they are my favorite type to eat, simply prepared. This year I'm growing only zucchini because I wanted something I could slice and dehydrate a certain way, and patties don't conform to that. And younger zucchini taste quite nice too.
I've grown several kinds of patty pans, a hybrid called sunburst (yellow with small green end) might be the best tasting to me, that I can easily find to buy. There was another called scallopini that I once got from Pinetree (also a hybrid). It was dark green and especially flat and wide, with a flavor to die for. Best squash ever. Alas the next time I purchased it from Pinetree, it simply was not the same squash! Same name, but iwth a different shape, and disappointing flavor. A real bummer. There is a common light green one, open pollinated I believe, Bennings green tint, that's pretty good too. I've tried a couple others over the years, but none was better than the easily available Sunburst or BenningsGT.
I have a friend who loves yellow squashes and grows both crookneck, and straight yellows. I've grown those too, but they did not hit my fancy. That reminds me that as a kid, mom would stick 2 toothpicks into the sides of the yellow crooknecks (from the grocery of course), stand them on their ends with the crook part pointing down and toothpicks as 'legs', and they look like birds.
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Post by september on Aug 1, 2019 14:27:41 GMT -5
Sounds like I will have to try Patty Pan next year. I've grown both green and yellow zucchini and like them both. I mistakenly bought the yellow crookneck when I couldn't find seeds for my favorite yellow zuch and it was on the same page of the catalog. I mostly just use them sauteed with tomatoes and onions, or chopped in soup and stew, and didn't notice much difference with the crookneck.
brownrexx , I did try a recipe that I found in the newspaper for oven baked zuchs cut into strips with Parmesan crumb breading. It came with a nice recipe for a yogurt dipping sauce. I'll make it again when I have some larger ones, just starting to get a couple of little 4 inchers. Your recipe is similar, except for cutting them into rounds instead of strips. Hubby is not a zucchini lover, (and just tolerates winter squash) so it's hard coming up with ways he will eat it, but the breaded oven baked kind of works for him.
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Post by brownrexx on Aug 1, 2019 15:20:56 GMT -5
september, I made breaded zucchini strips in the oven last week to dip into my freshly made spaghetti sauce to try it out and we both liked the zucchini done that way.
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Post by hairymooseknuckles on Aug 1, 2019 16:57:41 GMT -5
I love all squash as far as I know. I like Patty Pan, straight neck, crook neck, zucchini, butternut, Spaghetti, acorn, etc. I'm countrified, I likes me squash fried.
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