Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Eating and Drinking => Cooking, Storing and Preserving => Topic started by: Rizo on July 11, 2010, 11:26
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When can they be harvested?
as in size wise and how long can they stay attached for in size?
also do i just use a sharp knife and cut then off at the beginning on the fruit?
sorry for the questions but overnight they have had a monster growing session, got 3 about 5 inches long 8) courgettes that is :tongue2: :lol:
Jon
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The longer you leave courgettes the bigger they grow and you end up with marrows. Size depends on personal taste. I cut two last night which were both 7 inches long, but they can be cut smaller (say 3 inches) and cooked whole, in this case you would have three or four per person. I personally cut the stem in half so that there is about 1/2 inch still attached to the fruit. No doubt you will get a variety of answers. ::)
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I cut them from anything between 3 to 7 inches; mainly because if you leave them they get too fluffy inside and I like courgettes not marrows. I would rather have a few smaller ones and them keep coming than fewer large ones.
I currently have 10 in the fridge, all 5-7 inches - we are picking 5-6 a day and 10-12 if we leave it a couple of days.....:eek:
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I too prefer them no longer than about 5". I missed a few that turned into baseball bats and they weren't nice at all, particularly all the large seeds :tongue2: But a few of the huge ones will get turned into a wonderful relish for hot dogs, sausages and hamburgers.
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thanks for all your replies :)
I'm going to leave them till tomorrow afternoon before i pick them.
I got another 8 forming :ohmy: i can see i'm having courgettes with everything for the next few weeks :D
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Don't you mean the next few months :ohmy: :lol:
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do they keep growing flowers/courgettes then?
once i cut them off will it grow another?
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Yes and yes.
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Rizo,
DD's answer is a simple way of answering your question.
Anyone who has previously grown courgettes will be able to tell you that you cannot stop them producing fruit until the first frosts kill them off.
Never turn your back on a courgette plant because, as soon as you do, it will produce more courgettes or double/treble the size of the existing ones. :)
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I used some surplus ones in chutney last year - any chutney I made had courgette in!! Without the sins they made a wonderful bulking agent so my chutneys went further.
For some reason I thought planting five plants instead of two this year was a good idea, going to be making a lot more chutney this year I think, plus keeping work mates in courgettes ;)
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I used some surplus ones in chutney last year - any chutney I made had courgette in!! Without the sins they made a wonderful bulking agent so my chutneys went further.
For some reason I thought planting five plants instead of two this year was a good idea, going to be making a lot more chutney this year I think, plus keeping work mates in courgettes ;)
I've got five as well ! (got all my courgettes, squashes and pumpkins mixed up in transit to the lotty so I wasn't entirely sure what I'd planted out until a few weeks later !!).
I'm giving away lots but also making courgette soup for the freezer.
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Without the sins they made a wonderful bulking agent
Where do you get these "holier than thou" courgettes from?
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I've got yellow round ones this year instead of the usual banana shaped green ones. And yes, they keeping coming. I must have missed one when I last picked them, because its the size of a honeydew melon :ohmy:
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The folklore round these parts is that you get a courgette flower for every leaf. I'm not sure if that's really true or not.
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i remembered when i 1st started growing, i grew 5 courgette plants and every 2 or 3 days we had 4 courgettes to pick and cook, got a bit bored of them after a while and gave a few away. soon we left a few and they turned into massive marrows, which we did not cook because we didn't know what to do with them ??? , eventually they rotted away and threw them out. bottom shelf of the fridge had a few lying around which we forgot about and threw them away.
we have them slightly bigger about 10" but i think the smaller the better the taste.
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Oops, meant skins, not sins ;) got sausage fingers this morning on the tiny keyboard, and can't work out how to copy and paste on this thing either!!!
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left them in the bottom of the fridge! Shame on you. You can cook 1001 different recipes with a courgette! They make lovely cakes and muffins etc, soups, frittata, and you can add them to so many dishes, so no need to waste any :D Courgette choc muffins are lovely and the recipe is on here if I remember rightly. They do make lovely chutney as well as per Hugh Fernly W's Glutney Chutney. Yum :)
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I've got yellow round ones this year instead of the usual banana shaped green ones. And yes, they keeping coming. I must have missed one when I last picked them, because its the size of a honeydew melon :ohmy:
If they're Summer Ball, apparently you can leave them on until the Autumn and then pick and store them as pumpkins.
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Sigh - courgettes could be a swear word very soon in the season as you all sound as if you have them about the right size. ;)
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I reckon I'm about 3 days away from a glut :)
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I reckon I'm about 3 days away from a glut :)
I'm a week into a glut. Courgettes every single meal now. Sigh. And they aren't even all producing yet. :ohmy:
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Mine aren't yet either. Because they went out really late the plants are quite small, I haven't worked out yet whether this means I will get smaller courgettes or fewer or they'll be the same as ever. I've done lots of different varieties so hopefully won't get too bored with them :) I also have a neighbour that has a huge fig tree so I'm going to see if she wants to swap some of them!
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>:(Just been looking at my Courgettes - they were about two/three inches long yesterday - they have been eaten overnight. Now they have been chewed to bits - looks like mice or other rodent damage.
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If you miss any marrow and ginger jam is tasty, if you like ginger.
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If you miss any marrow and ginger jam is tasty, if you like ginger.
Love both of these can you point me in the direction of the recipe please?
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Try this:
http://www.allotment-garden.org/recipe/12/vals-recipe-for-marrow-and-ginger-jam/
This is the best starting point for any recipies:
http://www.allotment-garden.org/recipe
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I'm a nut. I've got Val' book but just saw marrow and ginger jam, thought that's for me and there you go. Many thanks.
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Never mind, it's given Val's book a plug.
Just made 8 jars of her Gooseberry Jelly. Reckon I've got enough gooseberries for at least 24 more!
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Courgette pate is delicious too.
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been Googling for courgette recipes this morning and come up with Nigel Slater one for creamed courgettes with dill. Looks fab
The pate is one I've not heard of :D Sounds lovely
I came up with a luxury cake which is sandwiched together with Green and Blacks choc hazelnut spread. Sounds dreamy
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::) Someone mentioned courgette chutney somewhere.LOOKED IN VALS' BOOK this time ::). Does anyone have a recipe for the glut I am about to have delivered via the lotty.
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been Googling for courgette recipes this morning and come up with Nigel Slater one for creamed courgettes with dill. Looks fab
The pate is one I've not heard of :D Sounds lovely
I came up with a luxury cake which is sandwiched together with Green and Blacks choc hazelnut spread. Sounds dreamy
I make courgette & dill soup which is lovely, and I saw a recipe for ratatouille that doesn't use aubergine but uses up loads of courgettes and it's lovely, especially in the winter if you freeze it, with a hunk of crusty bread!
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Let them get to marrow size and you can make a lovely white wine with them.
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One of my favourite courgette soup recipes could hardly be easier:
Fry onion, add chopped courgettes and thyme leaves, cover and sweat for ten mins or so. Add some water. Simmer till veg cooked. Then put in some chopped gorgonzola (about 100 g for four people), leave cheese to melt a bit and then swizz.
So good a friend of mine gave it the name of "Divine Soup" and asks for it whenever she comes round and we have courgettes.
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Gorgonzola in fridge, daughter just brought back four courgettes from lotty. Guess what??????????????????? ::)
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Pancakes stuffed with ratatouie, with grated cheese on top yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!
Just waiting for a few more tomms
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Could someone please tell me why I have planted 5 courgette plants????? 3 yellow, 2 green. But then, I am Bonkers. I do love them, and indeed, Val's chutney recipe is about to be revisted. The yellow ones look amazing on a plate next to the beautiful green runners and red tomatoes. oooooooooh, I loves my lottie, I does. ::) :lol:
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I've just realised, I have 7....
I've got 5 Defender and 2 Summer Ball... so it's even worse than I thought.
Luckily we do lurve courgettes and so do my mum and dad and my neighbours....!
Must say I'm loving the Summer Ball - and this is my 3rd year growing Defender, really reliable. But I might go for something a bit different next year.
:D
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OMG please dont laugh....i have just been reading this topic and have come to the conclusion that courgettes plants must give alot of courgettes.......I HAVE 19 PLANTS !!!
as you can tell its my first year of growing, i was given a plot and everyone kept giving me these lovely little seedlings (i now know why lol) so i put them all in.
think i may be needing alot of recipes lol
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You will be needing a LOT of family and friends, a veggie restaurant contact and a large compost bin :lol:
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If it was me.............I'd be pulling some out and putting something else in....19 plants...
unbelievable :ohmy:
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Can you freeze cougettes chopped for winter ratatouie?
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To put it another way NSH, 2 plants were enough for my family of four plus the MIL and a couple to my sons girlfriends family, and I still ended up with a few in the compo and a marrow that was never eaten
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Can you freeze cougettes chopped for winter ratatouie?
Excellent chart here from Val
http://www.allotment-garden.org/allotment_foods/Storing_the_Surplus_Freezing.php (http://www.allotment-garden.org/allotment_foods/Storing_the_Surplus_Freezing.php)
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I only have three plants --- if only everything was as prolific :lol: :lol: :lol:
Missed one on Sunday's pick and it turned into a monster by this afternoon :ohmy: Mananged to give it to my next door neighbour for stuffing -- whew!
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Can you freeze cougettes chopped for winter ratatouie?
Yes, or you can make the ratatouille and freeze that.
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I've got about 10 plants which is less than last year, but I've got several different ones (off the top of my head: zucchini, grisette, tromboncini, summer ball and yellow scallop so not all strictly speaking courgettes).
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How big are the tromboncini?
I had seeds for Christmas from No 1 GD and the plants are very sprawly and one two fruits are cream coloured and curly, bu the other has a bright grren fruit that is a bit like the picture on the packet in shape but skinnier.
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They sprawl like crazy if you let them, I trained one up a frame this year and the other is on my flat roof climbing up a pipe! They are supposed to climb and I found last year when I let it sprawl over the bed there was tons of courgettes but quite small, they can get quite big, but I found something started eating them so I pick them at about 9" long. They're very tasty!
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I roared with laughing when I read 19 courgette plants. Sheesh :D
The Glutney Chutney (for the courgette glut) is a Hugh Fearnley-W recipe and it's on the forum, in recipes I expect :) It's very tasty indeed
The soups sound fab. Not made a soup yet. Tsk
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Thanks Mashauk
I shall pick them next time I go to the plot and try them. If they get to the wire fence (just another few feet to go :lol: ) I shall let them climb up it.
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The Glutney Chutney (for the courgette glut) is a Hugh Fearnley-W recipe and it's on the forum, in recipes I expect :) It's very tasty indeed
I don't think it is CQ, as it's a River Cottage thing and will no doubt be copyright, but here's the link:
http://www.rivercottage.net/SeasonalRecipes~August/122/Glutney.aspx
I make some at least 4 years ago from the recipe when it was printed in Garden News. When I say "some", we're still eating it!
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I'm growing "Seeds of Italy" Romanesco this year for the first time. Very vigorous plants and most of the courgettes point straight up making them easy and clean to pick :) Loads of seeds in the packet as well :)
I also have one plant of All Green Bush which looks a bit weedy in comparison.
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glad i gave you all a giggle with my 19 plants :tongue2: lol
i just cant bring myself to pull any out, people gave me these when i first took my plot on, and i would feel bad chucking them on the heap.
i havent got the whole plot planted so i dont need the room this year, so ill just live on courgettes, and so will everyone around me :D
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The Romanesco is lovely. It's the same as Striato d Italia (for some reason)
Your 19 plants will yield plenty for church fetes and the like.
I'm taking my spares to the local Weight Watchers class. Sshhhhhhhhhhh. They don't know I'm coming 8)
That Glutney Chutney recipe is on here DD
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Ha ha, your 19 courgettes definitely cancel out my 20 tomatoes! :lol: :lol:
I'm just starting up a farmers market in Macclesfield, perhaps you'd like to start making a lot of courgette based recipes and take a stall? :lol: :lol:
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Uh-oh. I've never grown veg before and just bought/planted ten that were being sold off cheap in our local nursery. They each have a few 3"'ish long courgettes on them already... but can someone please explain, in idiot proof terms, how the plants fruit? All the girl in the nursery could tell me was "some of the flowers turn into fruit and some don't". Mine have loads more flowers than fruit currently.
I was horrified see they'd already grown a fair bit by lunchtime this morning - I only planted them Sunday night!
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The flowers look similar at first glance, but if you look behind the petals you will see either a thin stem (male flower) or a much thicker embryo courgette (female flower.)
You need both at the same time for fertilisation to happen (although not necessarily on the same plant if you've got more than one.)
If the baby courgette rots off after the withered flower has dropped off it probably failed to get pollinated; gentle transferring of pollen from male to female flowers (when open!) using an artist's paintbrush will help prevent that happening!
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Here's the piccie I usually trot out when the question arises..........
(http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c182/G4IAR/courgette_M_F.jpg)
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Thanks so much to both of you - that explains it very clearly! The girl in the nursery obviously didn't fancy giving me a sex lesson on pumpkin plants.
I'm off outside to look at my flowers with a slightly more experienced eye :)
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Every flower, on ten plants, is male, bar one which has a thickening/'baby' courgette at the base. I suppose nature will even things out and my plants will produce some more female flowers!?
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They can take a week or two to get it sorted out................but once they do..
look out! there will be hundreds :lol:
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That's a relief, thanks. I won't tell the OH how easy they are then... I'll let him be impressed by my apparent skills :)
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I've got a few rotting ones this year, never had that before, which is strange, half green half yellow, have been picking them off anyway and will use the good bits in my soup.
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I've got a few rotting ones this year, never had that before, which is strange, half green half yellow, have been picking them off anyway and will use the good bits in my soup.
I have those too this year - thought they were unfertilised but not sure. The rest are doing lovely though and some are going into pasta sauce tonight. :)
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My favourite way of eating courgettes is stuffed with onion, tomato, garlic, herbs, with loads of oozing mozzarella on top. Yum :)
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Going to make courgette frittata tonight for hubbies lunch tomorrow!!! And will have a go at glutney chutney too.... Will have to, and there was me thinking 5 plants was hectic......19 is somethng else ;)
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Somewhere there's a really nice Jamie Oliver recipe for courgette pickle too, it says you can only keep it a couple of weeks but it actually keeps for ages in the fridge, its a nice sweet one.
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Youv'e given me an idea, I could put some courgette in my tomato sauce with spagetii
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Every flower, on ten plants, is male, bar one which has a thickening/'baby' courgette at the base. I suppose nature will even things out and my plants will produce some more female flowers!?
Mine started like this and I was quite miffed then............... off to make chutney as I've now got a glut.
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I too have a courgette mountain as they just 'appear' overnight. Yesterday - none ready , today - 6 begging to be picked!I put them into allsorts at the mo - pasta sauce, byriani, risotto, med veggies. Preserce really well in Le Parfait/Kilner jars if you cut and blanch them they'll keep for months. J x
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I'm doing a Nigel Slater courgette cake today using yellow ones (they are easier to hide) 8)
Making soup as well
I have agreed to collect the lotty glut today and am taking them to the unsuspecting folks at WeightWatchers :D
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I too have a courgette mountain as they just 'appear' overnight. Yesterday - none ready , today - 6 begging to be picked!I put them into allsorts at the mo - pasta sauce, byriani, risotto, med veggies. Preserce really well in Le Parfait/Kilner jars if you cut and blanch them they'll keep for months. J x
I would imagine the young ones can be pickled like cucumbers? Please someone correct me if I'm wrong. :ohmy:
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How do you put them in the kilner jarsplease in vinager ?
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Here's the link to the recipe I posted, it's not like your normal "sour" pickle!
http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=22558.0
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I'm going to shove this thread over to Cooking Storing & Preserving as that's what it's become :D
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left them in the bottom of the fridge! Shame on you.
i'm sorry compostqueen, i just like growing things from a little age and now i can, i just go crazy growing things :lol:. if i had more space i'd grow a lot more of everything and i didn't realize how many would grow on a single plant times how many of them i had grown :wub:
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I made some of the River Cottage Glutney chutney at the weekend, followed the recipe to the letter as I've not made chutney before.
I don't know what I did wrong but I seemed to have loads of excess liquid, I ended up removing the excess after reducing it for 6 hours, and probably removed about a pint.
Next time I'm only going to use 500ml of the Vinegar rather than 750ml made up to a litre.
Has anyone else found this, or did I do something wrong.
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Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Yes, did the same with jam, no matter how long I boiled it the amount seemed to stay the same. I made the Glutney last week and added less wine vinegar and it's smashing stuff, thick and 'holds together'. I imagine the amount of water in the fruit or veg could make quite a difference so erring on the cautious side wide the added liquid seems to be the way.
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Another thought. If you had kept the liquid you strained off you could have rounded up some more veg and chutneyed that as well.
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I don't know why they add any water :unsure:....I have never added any, I just use the amount of vinegar they tell you to use (no rounding up with water) as there is enough moisture already in the fruit and veg :)
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I don't know why they add any water :unsure:....I have never added any, I just use the amount of vinegar they tell you to use (no rounding up with water) as there is enough moisture already in the fruit and veg :)
I didn't add water, couldn't see the point especially when you have 'wet' veg like courgettes and tomatoes.
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I was given a tip for courgette dip, and tried it yesterday, but as a side dish in a salad.
Peel most of the skin off, slice with a spud basher, leave in strips, and, add a few fresh peas, some mint and a splosh of vinaigrette!
Can't wait for the next batch tonight!