End of the garden
Don Coldsmith, Syndicated Columnist
Monday, September 29, 2008
SOON, WE WILL be having the first frost of the season. Gardeners will be cleaning up the last of the fresh home-grown tomatoes, storing winter squash and making pickles with the last of the cucumbers. A few will have picked the green tomatoes at the last minute, maybe fried a few, or set them aside to ripen in a paper bag. They’ll do that. They’re not as good as vine-ripened, of course, but much better than the Styrofoam tomatoes we get from the store through the winter.
I had an aunt who was a great gardener. She had to be. They farmed 40 acres for a living, with horse teams, and did pretty well at it. One of her recipes was for “End-of-the-garden Pickles.” As I remember it, she sort of chopped up everything that she could salvage and pickled it with vinegar, salt and spices. Green tomatoes, sweet peppers, a few onions, summer squash, cucumbers — it was pretty good. It seems to me that she sometimes put a few carrots in it, too, to give it a little color. Or maybe that was just from red bell peppers. I never thought about it very much as a kid.
One major advantage to this time of year is that we don’t have any zucchini squash to worry about until next summer. I don’t really hold any grudge against zucchini, you understand. It’s just that there’s always a surplus. Sure, it’s nice to have an easily-grown vegetable that produces in abundance. However, if we’re going to produce a surplus, it would be nice if it were something with a certain amount of flavor.
But a zucchini DOES have flavor, I heard someone say. Sure, so does a lettuce sandwich on white bread, but not much. (At a fraternity house where I ate lunch while in school, the cook occasionally served lettuce sandwiches. They were referred to as Ella’s “nothin’ sandwiches” by the young men who boarded there).
In zucchini season, there are always a great many recipes in newspapers and magazines, with suggestions about what to do with zucchinis. One paper whose pages I always glean for good recipes had an issue with nothing but zucchini recipes. (Is this a sign of desperation?) There were eight or 10 of them, ranging from stir-fry to soups to a chocolate zucchini cake.
I have no doubt that some of these were pretty good. A daughter of ours came home not long ago and brought a delicious apple pie. One of the best I ever ate, in fact. It wasn’t until we finished that, over coffee, she explained that it wasn’t an apple pie, but zucchini! Its true nature had been cleverly disguised by parboiling and the addition of a lot of lemon juice, cinnamon, nutmeg and sugar. It was tremendously successful and I certainly hope that any expressed here will not prevent her from bringing pies when she comes again. Even zucchini pie.
But think about it: Look at all the recipes with ways to dispose of zucchinis. Is there any significance in the fact that nearly every zucchini recipe in the world has as its ultimate purpose to get rid of zucchini and make it resemble something else? What does that tell us, about zucchini or about ourselves? I though of the old truism that “if there are more than four ways to do a thing, it’s certain that none of ‘em are worth a damn.”
A few years back I was lecturing in a small western Kansas town. I like an audience of that kind and towns of that kind. They don’t have the problems that we see in the cities. They don’t bother to lock their houses when they go to the store, many times. I remarked on this to the man who was to introduce me after we finished the covered-dish dinner we were eating. I asked if they even locked their cars when they were in town.
“Well, no,” he assured me. “Except, of course, in zucchini season.”
See you down the road.
create (anonymous) says...
One of the problems I've seen around here with zukes is that many people grow them too large. They get bitter, the seeds are too big, the rind is tough. Why do they do that? Plus they make a big deal out of having grown such giant zucchinis. I wish you could see my face; I am grimacing.
I grow a couple of varieties of zucchini and never grow them larger than a tender and flavorful 6 or 7 inches. Despite that, I have a neighbor who loves to brag by giving me a zucchini or two every year and they are always at least the size of a blimp. I can't understand it. Oh well, makes good compost.
September 29, 2008 at 2:34 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Weltha (anonymous) says...
I hated zukes as a kid. My dad grew the huge ones and mom stuffed them with the fowlest tasting mess I have ever tryed to eat. As I got older a friend turned me on to the smaller zuccini. I just love it now. Slice several dif. peppers, yellow squash, zuccini, grape tomtoes even some mushrooms and a sweet onion. Slice and roll all that in foil with a little butter and some seasoning and put it on the grill. When its done a little shreaded cheese tops it off. some times we add some new red potatoes to mix as well Yum! Now I'm getting hungry. LOL
September 29, 2008 at 2:47 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
create (anonymous) says...
You convinced me, Weltha. I'm having some of your recipe for supper tonight, and every bit of it from my garden including some fresh garlic I pulled this afternoon. Oh yeah, and a lovely piece of salmon sauteed in olive oil, cracked pepper, and lemon thyme.
September 29, 2008 at 3:06 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Weltha (anonymous) says...
What did you say your address was again???? LOL Enjoy your wonderful sounding meal.
September 29, 2008 at 3:09 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Happiness08 (anonymous) says...
As far as I'm concerned the only way to eat zucchini is to slice it, dip it in an egg and milk mix, roll it in flour, and fry it.
September 30, 2008 at 11:42 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Weltha (anonymous) says...
As long as ya got ranch dressing. LOL
September 30, 2008 at 3:17 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )