tasteless squash

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tinysmom Joined: 10/08/2009 Location: Sounth Texas Posts: 3	Posted: Oct/13/2009 9:09 AM PST I posted this in another topic but I think it fits better here. My yellow squash and zucchini are tasteless. We use good organic gardenville soil and fertilize organically with homemade compost, Hasta Gro, and Garrett Juice. We live in South Texas. It has been suggested that I use heirloom seeds (instead of hybrid). Any other ideas? Thanks. Quote \| Reply \| Report

aimee Joined: 6/21/2008 Location: Indiana Posts: 788	Posted: Oct/17/2009 8:33 PM PST Heirlooms might taste better than hybrid. I like to grow some heirlooms every year just to see what they turn out to be like, but I usually wind up doing a couple hybrid zuchs and yellow squash too just for reliability. Question is, how do you cook them? One of the beauties of summer squash is that they ARE sort of bland, and take to so many different dishes. After all, you wouldn't make a zucchini-type bread with tomatoes or green peppers, would you? They have too strong a taste. For squash, give them plenty of salt, and let them cook down a bit to concentrate the flavor. (Yeah, I'm a chef and a culinary instructor so trust me.) There's a squash thread under the recipe section, check it out, and look in some good vegetarian cookbooks - anything by Dennis Cotter is guaranteed to be great - for recipes and techniques that get the most flavor and interest out of vegetables. One of my favorite things to do with summer squash is to slice or cube it, give it good salt, and cook it slooowwww with some onion and garlic in a goodly bit of olive oil until it really shrinks up and concentrates itself. Hit it with a little rich chicken stock and bring to a boil and toss it with pasta. Plenty of Parmesan or Pecorino and black pepper on top and you have a bit of squashy heaven. You can fry some crumbled Italian sausage in with this too if your family won't stand for a meatless pasta! Quote \| Reply \| Report

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tinysmom
Joined: 10/08/2009
Location: Sounth Texas
Posts: 3

Posted: Oct/13/2009 9:09 AM PST

I posted this in another topic but I think it fits better here. My yellow squash and zucchini are tasteless. We use good organic gardenville soil and fertilize organically with homemade compost, Hasta Gro, and Garrett Juice. We live in South Texas. It has been suggested that I use heirloom seeds (instead of hybrid). Any other ideas? Thanks.

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aimee

Joined: 6/21/2008
Location: Indiana
Posts: 788

Posted: Oct/17/2009 8:33 PM PST

Heirlooms might taste better than hybrid. I like to grow some heirlooms every year just to see what they turn out to be like, but I usually wind up doing a couple hybrid zuchs and yellow squash too just for reliability.

Question is, how do you cook them? One of the beauties of summer squash is that they ARE sort of bland, and take to so many different dishes. After all, you wouldn't make a zucchini-type bread with tomatoes or green peppers, would you? They have too strong a taste.

For squash, give them plenty of salt, and let them cook down a bit to concentrate the flavor. (Yeah, I'm a chef and a culinary instructor so trust me.)

There's a squash thread under the recipe section, check it out, and look in some good vegetarian cookbooks - anything by Dennis Cotter is guaranteed to be great - for recipes and techniques that get the most flavor and interest out of vegetables.

One of my favorite things to do with summer squash is to slice or cube it, give it good salt, and cook it slooowwww with some onion and garlic in a goodly bit of olive oil until it really shrinks up and concentrates itself. Hit it with a little rich chicken stock and bring to a boil and toss it with pasta. Plenty of Parmesan or Pecorino and black pepper on top and you have a bit of squashy heaven. You can fry some crumbled Italian sausage in with this too if your family won't stand for a meatless pasta!

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