History and properties of zucchini and sandwich
It is a vegetable native to Latin America, whose cultivation began to spread in Europe in the sixteenth century. Due to its easy production, it has long been a food intended for the lower classes.
Ambiguous and immature but people like it for this very reason. This is the case with Cucurbita pepo. An apparently bisexual vegetable, since it is indifferently called zucchini. The cucurbit is simply neutral. Even in taste. Delicate, undefined, almost unripe. Because it is harvested while still immature, before it deteriorates and becomes inedible with age. Pros and cons of a vegetable condemned to remain an adolescent. Forced by nature to grow little and therefore to know little. Yet it is precisely this foolishness of a young shoot that decrees his fortune. To make zucchini a precious wild card of gastronomy, a supplement of taste and color at the service of ingredients with a stronger character.
In short, a life as a midfielder, for a vegetable that does not score goals but keeps the team together. And he often takes the place of the owners without making them regret it. For example, in the parmigiana when it comes in place of the more titled aubergines and brings home the full result. Or in those first courses where its green freshness enlivens even the most pumped up of shrimps. But it is in fried foods, as well as in omelets, that the humble cucurbita leaves the bench forever and conquers a starting place. Immovable. As in the scapece, where he reveals indisputable qualities as a champion.
Zucchini has found an authentic consecration in Italian gastronomy in an endless series of masterful regional variations. With a clove of garlic, an idea of mint, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, a tablespoon of minced meat, a splash of breadcrumbs, our poor but beautiful kitchens have transformed the versatile modesty of zucchini into a Vivaldian test of harmony and invention.
If it is therefore true that Cucurbita pepo was born in the highlands of Mexico - the first to cook it were the Aztecs -, it is equally true that the zucchini is reborn in the Bel paese that has literally reinvented it. So much so that the Italian word "zucchini" has become a powerful part of the vocabulary and recipes of globular gastronomy. Combining with the most diverse ingredients, sweet and savory. With barley in biscuits, with lemon in muffins, with chocolate in swirls, with soy noodles in Chinese chicken, with garlic and yogurt in Jewish brioche.
The irresistible rise of the pumpkin also comes from its proverbial lightness that has made it a synonym for healthy, refreshing, low-calorie eating. In short, fair and clean eating, seasoned with good intentions. Zucchini are now the symbol of an ideal of health, of balance, let's face it, of renunciation. To the point of pedagogical doggedness.
The ripe fruit can even reach a length of one meter, but it has large seeds that make it inedible. The zucchini that is usually consumed are actually still unripe fruits.
Italy is one of Europe's largest producers of zucchini. Of these, the flowers are eaten when they are still in bud and the very tender fruits, just formed. The courgette is widespread in all regions, and specifically in Sicily, Lazio, Piedmont, Veneto, Puglia, Tuscany and Liguria.
There are two basic types:
- light zucchini, a product known on the markets of Genoa, Bologna and in some areas of Southern Italy, is generically harvested with the flower. It can have a cylindrical shape tending to form a sphere in some local types or elongated;
- dark courgette, which by definition is the best known type in Lombardy and for export; It has an elongated shape, a dark green tint and is harvested without a flower. The flowers are an edible part of the plant and can be breaded and fried.
The sowing of the courgette in the open field begins in spring and continues gradually until August. In greenhouses it is cultivated from the end of summer until the following spring, the most important areas for protected cultivation are Sicily and lower Lazio.
The neutral flavor makes them very versatile in the kitchen: most traditional recipes call for their use mainly as a side dish, but they are also very tasty raw, finely sliced, in salads.
Rich in water and low in calories, zucchini is a source of vitamins C and B9. The high potassium content and low sodium content gives them diuretic properties.
The sandwich with hemp and almond pesto, grilled zucchini, sesame and chia seeds, confit cherry tomatoes, Sicilian toasted almonds, extra virgin olive oil is really tasty.
It is a vegetable native to Latin America, whose cultivation began to spread in Europe in the sixteenth century. Due to its easy production, it has long been a food intended for the lower classes.
Ambiguous and immature but people like it for this very reason. This is the case with Cucurbita pepo. An apparently bisexual vegetable, since it is indifferently called zucchini. The cucurbit is simply neutral. Even in taste. Delicate, undefined, almost unripe. Because it is harvested while still immature, before it deteriorates and becomes inedible with age. Pros and cons of a vegetable condemned to remain an adolescent. Forced by nature to grow little and therefore to know little. Yet it is precisely this foolishness of a young shoot that decrees his fortune. To make zucchini a precious wild card of gastronomy, a supplement of taste and color at the service of ingredients with a stronger character.
In short, a life as a midfielder, for a vegetable that does not score goals but keeps the team together. And he often takes the place of the owners without making them regret it. For example, in the parmigiana when it comes in place of the more titled aubergines and brings home the full result. Or in those first courses where its green freshness enlivens even the most pumped up of shrimps. But it is in fried foods, as well as in omelets, that the humble cucurbita leaves the bench forever and conquers a starting place. Immovable. As in the scapece, where he reveals indisputable qualities as a champion.
Zucchini has found an authentic consecration in Italian gastronomy in an endless series of masterful regional variations. With a clove of garlic, an idea of mint, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, a tablespoon of minced meat, a splash of breadcrumbs, our poor but beautiful kitchens have transformed the versatile modesty of zucchini into a Vivaldian test of harmony and invention.
If it is therefore true that Cucurbita pepo was born in the highlands of Mexico - the first to cook it were the Aztecs -, it is equally true that the zucchini is reborn in the Bel paese that has literally reinvented it. So much so that the Italian word "zucchini" has become a powerful part of the vocabulary and recipes of globular gastronomy. Combining with the most diverse ingredients, sweet and savory. With barley in biscuits, with lemon in muffins, with chocolate in swirls, with soy noodles in Chinese chicken, with garlic and yogurt in Jewish brioche.
The irresistible rise of the pumpkin also comes from its proverbial lightness that has made it a synonym for healthy, refreshing, low-calorie eating. In short, fair and clean eating, seasoned with good intentions. Zucchini are now the symbol of an ideal of health, of balance, let's face it, of renunciation. To the point of pedagogical doggedness.
The ripe fruit can even reach a length of one meter, but it has large seeds that make it inedible. The zucchini that is usually consumed are actually still unripe fruits.
Italy is one of Europe's largest producers of zucchini. Of these, the flowers are eaten when they are still in bud and the very tender fruits, just formed. The courgette is widespread in all regions, and specifically in Sicily, Lazio, Piedmont, Veneto, Puglia, Tuscany and Liguria.
There are two basic types:
- light zucchini, a product known on the markets of Genoa, Bologna and in some areas of Southern Italy, is generically harvested with the flower. It can have a cylindrical shape tending to form a sphere in some local types or elongated;
- dark courgette, which by definition is the best known type in Lombardy and for export; It has an elongated shape, a dark green tint and is harvested without a flower. The flowers are an edible part of the plant and can be breaded and fried.
The sowing of the courgette in the open field begins in spring and continues gradually until August. In greenhouses it is cultivated from the end of summer until the following spring, the most important areas for protected cultivation are Sicily and lower Lazio.
The neutral flavor makes them very versatile in the kitchen: most traditional recipes call for their use mainly as a side dish, but they are also very tasty raw, finely sliced, in salads.
Rich in water and low in calories, zucchini is a source of vitamins C and B9. The high potassium content and low sodium content gives them diuretic properties.
The sandwich with hemp and almond pesto, grilled zucchini, sesame and chia seeds, confit cherry tomatoes, Sicilian toasted almonds, extra virgin olive oil is really tasty.
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