Tuesday, August 24, 2010

In Praise of Clarimore Zucchini


Cindy came in this morning from the garden with her hands full of tomatoes and zucchini. The tomatoes finally are taking off in the suddenly hot weather. The San Diego June Gloom stretched well into July and August this year, with temperatures in the upper sixties or low seventies; the tomatoes did their best, but it was clear they were struggling. But now that it's in the upper eighties and mid-nineties, the humans are melting and the tomatoes are saying "Finally! It's about time."

She also brought in a couple of zucchini. One of them had managed to avoid detection until it had grown to monstrous proportions--it weighed in at three pounds, but the other one was a more reasonable size.

These are both Clarimore Zucchini. They have a pale green skin, lightly speckled. Unlike the zucchini you buy in the grocery stores, the skin of Clarimores is tender and not bitter. They saute nicely and Cindy has used them several times to make a cold zucchini soup, although the three pound monster would probably make enough to last us all through fall and winter.

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