These last days of summer belong not so much to baseball and back-to-school, as to the incredible tumble of squash erupting from vegetable patches and grocery bins all over town. Green, yellow, smooth, or warty, the prolific members of the squash clan pretty much rule the season of harvest.
Heralded as “baby” squash during the heady first-pickings of spring, those tiny jewels of miniature crookneck and pattypan
have quadrupled in number and swelled in girth during the intervening weeks. Zucchinis overlooked beneath the network of leaves resemble fat torpedoes, pattypans bring to mind alien saucers, and overgrown crooknecks hang like gourds waiting to be carved into birdhouses.
During hot weather, it takes only about six days after flowering for squash to reach a pickable size, and a scant three days more to develop tough skins and alarmingly stout proportions. Keen-eyed growers can continue to enjoy smaller specimens, but it takes constant vigilance and frequent passes through the vegetable patch to catch them in time.
The gardens and farms around Santa Maria, both backyard and commercial, yield a treasure trove of variously shaped and shaded squash. The most common varieties, such as crookneck, straightneck, and zucchini, are subspecies of a gourd that originated in southern Mexico, while the others come from both North and South America.
For at least 10,000 years, Americans have enjoyed munching these high-fiber, low-calorie, and mildly sweet vegetables, whether boiled, steamed, or dished up raw. Each serving of squash contains a powerhouse of vitamins and nutrients, including tryptophan, an amino acid also found in turkey, and the secret ingredient responsible for that happy buzz that often follows the Thanksgiving meal.
Over the decades, hybridizers have developed a number of squash with varying appearances, yet similar texture and flavor. There are both dark green and grayish zucchinis, a bulbous form called “Caserta,” and butter yellow zukes with names like “Gold Rush” and “Golden Dawn.”
Plantsmen created “Jersey Gold” and “Sundance,” often sold as baby squash, through genetic engineering. The fruits of these subspecies begin yellow, rather than the normal green, have matching yellow stems, and sometimes are sold with their flowers still attached.
Winter squash inhabit the same family as summer squash (Cucurbita) and grow during the warm season, just as summer squash do. Their distinguishing feature is a hardened skin that makes them especially suitable for storage until cooler weather prevails.
Hard-shelled acorn, butternut, pumpkin, and kabocha all fall into the category of winter squash. Their flesh usually glows a sunny yellow and boasts a delightfully creamy texture when baked, boiled, nuked, or blended into a warming soup.
Several other, less common members of the squash family include bitter melon, a trailing vine that produces warty fruits that can be stuffed, pickled, or sliced into stews—once they’ve been parboiled to reduce the bitterness. Chayote, a staple of Aztec cuisine, is a green, pear-shaped squash with a flavor reminiscent of water chestnut. Today, creative chefs mash, pickle, boil, fry, and bake this odd-looking fruit, or dice it raw into salads.
A Mediterranean native, the hyotan or cucuzza squash is a long, curved vegetable with light green, inedible skin. This versatile candidate can be eaten steamed, stewed, or microwaved, and served with a little butter and seasoning.
If you don’t have a patch of squash taking over the backyard, you can still grab some of the fresh treats at one of the local farmers’ markets. For a comprehensive selection, check out the markets at Clark and Bradley on Tuesdays, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Town Center West on Wednesdays from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m., or in Lompoc, at South H and Cypress, on Fridays from 2 to 7 p.m.
Growing Grounds Farm, based in San Luis Obispo, supplies locals with lots of fresh produce, while providing horticultural therapy and paid employment for people with mental illnesses. At the organization’s farm stand in Santa Maria, squash fans can find a nice assortment of both summer and winter varieties.
Foodies who signed up with Blosser Urban Garden’s Community Supported Agriculture program (CSA) last winter are now enjoying the fruits of a wonderful relationship. Stuffed in their weekly bag of goodies fresh from the garden, they’re finding corn, broccoli, and cauliflower, as well as plenty of zucchini, crookneck, and other members of the rambunctious clan that just about rules the harvest season.
RECIPE:
Babe Farms Summer Squash Saute
Courtesy Babe Farms, Santa Maria
In a large skillet, saute 1 large red onion, sliced, in hot cooking oil until tender. Stir in 2 c. halved small pattypan; 2 small yellow squash, sliced; 1 medium sweet red pepper, sliced; 2 tsp. minced fresh basil (or 1/2 tsp. dried). Cover and cook until veggies are crisp-tender. Remove from heat, add 2 T. red wine vinegar and 4 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled. Sprinkle with 1/4 c. Parmesan cheese and serve.
INFOBOX: Get squashed
Growing Grounds Farm (928-4509, www.t-mha.org/growinggroundssm) operates a farm stand at 812 Foster Road on Thursdays, noon to 6 p.m.
Blosser Urban Garden (878-1456, www.blosserurbangarden.blogspot.com) is located at 915 Blosser Road. Sign up now for their CSA program and start receiving fresh produce weekly in March.
For more information about farmers growing squash and other fresh veggies in the Santa Maria area, visit www.centralcoastgrown.org.
K. Reka Badger always has an abundance of fresh-picked story ideas. Share yours with her at rekabadger@hotmail.com.
This article appears in Sep 4-11, 2008.