Squash, Cucumberโฆ. Gourd – it all stays in the family ๐
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Typically, after a heat wave, the cucumber crops are destroyed and there is a shortage until the next cycle give fruit. Shortage means higher cost ☹
Due to the shortage, last week I replaced the cucumbers in our organic vegetable boxes with squash.
Some fun things to know about these very close brothers:
1. They are of course siblings in the magical gourd family .
2. They are both eaten unripe. Unripe – do not panic, it's not bad, it just means that the fruit (Oh, soon about them being fruits) is not sexually mature. The seeds inside are still soft, unlike pumpkins that the seeds harden, and they can not be sown and grow the next generation.
3. Cucumbers and zucchini fruit is picked from the plant about 40 days after planting. About 7-10 days after flowering.
3. Fruits – from a culinary standpoint the whole family are considered vegetables , but the presence of seeds inside them shows us that they are actually organic fruit. Botanically, a fruit is an ovary of a flower that is sexually mature, and can grow the next generation.
4. The whole family can, should, tasty, nutritious and healthy to eat fresh, raw and uncooked. In Thailand raw zucchinis are a common component in salad . in Greece they are in Tzaziki – salad/drink of yogurt and raw cucumber or zucchini.
5. Zucchini are native Americans and the English name is SQUASH. The name comes from the word askutasquash in the native language in the area of Massachusetts in the United States, which means something like "eaten fresh and raw" (uncooked). There was a time when my youngest son used to join us in the packing in the mornings before school, and I would have to clean off his pumpkin mustache before he would leave….
6. The Italian name for squash is zucchini, which means little pumpkin.
7. When the people of Israel went in the desert they missed and remembered the ".. zucchini and watermelon …" they ate in Egypt (Numbers 11, 5). (Also the watermelon is a brother to the magnificent gourd family of this season).
8. In our days the cucumber is the main and essential component in our Israeli salad.
9. There is also a salad of names! The zucchini our ancestors yearned for from Egypt are actually cucumbers. From the Mishnah we understand that we eat zucchini fresh and raw – cucumbers. So Rashi interprets it. Also, at the beginning of the revival of the Hebrew language, the word for zucchini actually meant cucumber.
10. The hebrew word for cucumber (ืืืคืคืื) comes to us from Greek and is composed of two words: melo = apple, pepon=watermelon. Together: melopepon = yellow watermelon. In today's language = meon. Another brother of raw eaten family of gourds.
Organic fruit salad !!!
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11. A report about us and gourds from โGlobesโ.
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To Health!
Yours,
Maggie and the garden staff
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I expect in our organic Veggie Baskets (draft only):
Leeks
Bunch of beets
Green onions
New Zealand spinach
Rocket
parsley
Japanese pumpkin
Tomatoes
lettuce
Potatoes
Zucchini
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In larger baskets, also
Butternut squash
cabbage
Cherry tomatoes
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In fruit baskets:
Bananas
Melon
In larger ones, also:
Cherries
??
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