Zucchino Rampicante

One of the most fun and delicious squash we grow is the zucchino rampicante.   The two on the right are fully mature.  The one on the left is still a bit green.  They are big - almost the size of your arms if you hold them out and pretend you're holding a ball in front of you.

Rampicante is an Italian curly squash.  Aside from their way cool shapes, these guys are amazing in that you can eat them at any stage of growth from blossom to little green baby squash, to beige and fully ripe.    They are a combination summer/winter squash.

Pick them green and cook them like summer squash.

Pick them ripe and cook them like winter squash.    They have a delicious orange flesh that is wonderful sliced and baked.  

The seeds are in the bulb at the bottom.

To prepare them when they're fully ripe, peel it all with a vegetable peeler and slice the skinny part into rounds.   Cut the bulb off, open it, take out the seeds and slice it up.  Bake it until soft.

It's really delicious baked with some of the glazes I talked about last week.