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| My brother Adam, age 8, turning over our garden in Comox, B.C. |
When I was little, my family always had a garden. Even
though we moved frequently as a result of my dad being in the military, we
always made sure to have at least a small garden and compost. Zucchini plants
were one of our most successful crops. It grew wherever we went: Northern
Alberta, South Western B.C., and southern Alberta. We always produced a great
harvest and ended up with an abundance of zucchini. Unfortunately, my brother
and I were not overly fond of this squash. In an effort to get us to eat it, my
mother and grandmother became inventive. They found, adapted and even created recipes
to incorporate and disguise this vegetable. (In other words, they tricked us.)
One specific recipe my grandmother altered was one that calls for an Indian
squash, doodi. She substituted it for zucchini. Zucchini ‘halva’ became one of
my favourite sweets, as well as chocolate zucchini cake (it’s super moist),
zucchini cranberry muffins, zucchini raisin bars... the list goes on. My mom
also created savoury dishes such as zucchini and pea curry, ratatouille and
stir frys.
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| Size of zucchini compared to a banana! |
In Colorado, a family friend left town for the weekend, and
returned to find an outrageously sized zucchini crop. We offered to take a
zucchini home, assuming he was exaggerating, thinking that a squash could not get that
big in one weekend. You can imagine our shock when we saw its size! But
thanks to our family’s history with zucchini, we knew exactly what to do with
it! :)
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