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Zucchini: The Prolific Summer Squash
| Article
# : |
12524 |
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Section : |
LIFE
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| Issue
Date : |
7 / 1987 |
2,298 Words |
| Author
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Connie Campbell
Connie Campbell is a chef, caterer, and food writer who lives
in New Hampshire. |
It is yet to be proved which is more dreaded - the litter of kittens left on the doorstoop or...the bushel of zucchini that appears on the kitchen table when you run to answer a knock at the front door. Kittens, at least, can grow into good mousers and earn their keep. Those prolific green squash, however, present problems to us thrifty New Englanders whose Yankee upbringing dictates that we do something with them, no matter where they come from.
Recently in our New Hampshire village, a young housewife was confronted with two critical situations on the same summer's day. On returning from a walk down the drive to get the mail, she discovered someone had left a bushel of "them" in her kitchen. And her mother-in-law was due for a visit.
She let the squash sit until Mother G arrived. When questioned about her plans for them, she ventured to say that she couldn't possibly use that many and they would probably go to waste.
Mother G knew her duty! A quick trip to town provided her with the tools needed to save those orphans and provide a lesson in frugality. Mason jars and canning kettle, vinegar, sugar and spices, combined with four hours of slicing, stewing, and steaming, and imagination and perseverance transformed those zucchini into quarts of relishes and pickles. And they didn't cost a thing. Well, almost nothing.
The same perseverance and hard work that produced Mother G's pickles now provides sport and diversion for a multitude of New Englanders each August at the International Zucchini Festival. The festival, originating in 1982 in the tiny village of Harrisville, New Hampshire, among the hills below Mount Monadnock, exalts the often demeaned and abused vegetable and funds the town's Children's Center.
The success of the festival was so great that Harrisville's village common could no longer accommodate it. In 1985, the IZF was moved to its new home at nearby Keene State College, which becomes, for one day in August, Zu(Keene)i U.
The festivals start early on the appointed day. Entries from the New England states, New York, and Canada must be registered for competition by 10 A.M. Judging for categories such as the Farthest Traveled Zucchini, Zucchini Look-Alike Contest (no Cukes please!), and Best Zucchini in a Bottle starts promptly at 11 A.M. The competition for the cherished Green Ribbon is
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