Comments on: How to Use Up Zucchini

By: Darsih

Darsih — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 03:04:00 +0000

Hi from Bali, Indonesia. My Bali husband (I’m American) is an organic farmer. I frequently get ‘extra’ veggies when nature outpaces orders. FYI – info about his farm at http://www.baliorganicproject.typepad.com/ I have a lot of zucchini today and will use the shredding info and freeze for soups and sauces. We don’t have a modern oven so I always look for other ways to use. Here are a couple of other ideas:

Zucchini Milk (credit to Mrjorie Hurt Jones – The Allergy Self-Help Cookbook)
2.5 pounds firm zucchini, peeled and cut into chunks
Blend in batches to thick, smooth liquid. Heat all to boiling over med high heat and cook for 1 minute. Cool briefly and pour into canning jars. Good in the fridge for up to 1 week or in the freezer up to one year. Good for bread, cakes, cream soups. Unpeeled will result in green milk. Author says for baking to cut back a bit on the flour or increase the liquids a little because this is thicker than cow’s milk.

Cream of Zucchini Soup (credit to Feast Without Yeast Cookbook)
2T butter or safflower oil
2 leeks (organic of course) chopped (optional)
6 med zucchini sliced (or similar quantity of larger)
6 large red potatoes (more for thicker or less for thinner), peeled and diced
1T dried basil or 3-4T fresh organic basil
1/2 T dried thyme
2T sea salt or to taste
12-14c water

Heat the butter or oil in large kettle. Add leeks and saute til soft. Add the zuc. When bright, add herbs and salt. Add potatoes. Add enough water to come within 1/2 inch of the top. Cover, bring to boil, then simmer until all the beggies are cooked. When cooled, puree in blender or with hand mixer. Great either hot or cold. I’ve also had luck freezing. And using this recipe, I use broccoli and less zucchini.

By: Jamie

Jamie — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 00:25:29 +0000

Just a tip for those shredding zucchini to freeze for use later. When I thaw it, I dump it from its baggie into a metal strainer as it is very wet. Every year a friend passes on surplus zucchini from her mom’s garden and I shred it, then use it all winter to make her Mom’s chocolate zucchini bread recipe.

By: Leslie

Leslie — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 23:24:14 +0000

Hey, i thought I’d leave an idea for you all! At the Pizza Factory one time I accidentally ordered my pasta plate with zucchini noodles, thinking I’d ordered linguine noodles. The waitress heard “zucchini” and it actually was on their menu (I checked after thinking the linguine looked a little funny and…green!). I decided to try it rather than complain, and I LOVED it! I think they just used a carrot or potato peeler, shredded the zucchini with it, sauteed it in some olive oil and topped it with Alfredo sauce! I absolutely thought it was the most delicious and ingenious idea! Try it!

By: angela

angela — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 20:52:52 +0000

Thanks for this. I’ve been looking for a good zucchini muffin recipe. We had way too many in our garden this year.

http://thesuburbanjungle.blogspot.com

By: Erin

Erin — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 12:21:36 +0000

I would think 3 months in a fridge freezer or 6 months in a deep freezer. That is the standard that I use for our food!

By: Michelle

Michelle — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 05:24:18 +0000

I’m also wondering what the “freezer-life” of zucchini is. I have a moster one myself that I plan on shredding for future zucchini bread, but I want to make sure I can use it in a timely manner without ODing on bread.

By: Maureen

Maureen — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 11:56:40 +0000

Thanks for the great site – Just wondering how you use zucchini in a smoothie? When I click on the link for the recipe it does not mention zucchini. I can’t imagine that in a smoothie!

By: Carlee

Carlee — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 19:25:09 +0000

I see you all are zucchini freezers, and I guess I am new to the whole vegetable freezing. I froze zucchini once and it was so mushy I thought it looked moldy. But nobody had told me what it was supposed to look like. So if you freeze it, is there a time where it is best to use it by? I wondered if I had waited too long with my frozen batch. My main question is, so if I were to freeze zucchini again, and it comes out mushy (such as the shredded zucchini), it is still okay to use for baking my bread? It was just so watery, I thought it would change the outcome of the bread. I’m new to this, but am very interested in learning to freeze and store for the winter.

By: The Prudent Homemaker

The Prudent Homemaker — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 05:36:00 +0000

That’s kind of a medium zucchini, actually.

I gave one that size to my neighbor today. He asked why they don’t sell them that size at the grocery store.

Personally, I don’t know why people want to harvest them so small. You get so much more food if you just let it get a little bigger.

We had one that same size and fried it for dinner the other night. We had it along with corn and tomato salad. It fed all 7 of us with leftovers. For the big ones, we slice it (into circles), and then cut them into halves or fourths for quicker frying.

I usually wait until mine are bigger, though.

If you let it get a lot bigger (extra-large) the seeds inside will grow more and get hard. Those can be toasted and salted just like pumpkin seeds.

$2 for a zucchini–wow! I even cringe at the .79 cent price for the little ones. I get lots of zucchini for that much by buying one packet of seeds and planting them in the garden.

I guess I have $8 worth of zucchini sitting here right now . . .

By: katie in VA

katie in VA — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 20:05:19 +0000

thank you for passing this along! I have a monster zucchini that is the ENTIRE LENGTH of my microwave (where it happens to be resting right now) that was a gift from a friend’s garden. I have been moving it around in my kitchen, just not quite knowing what to do with it. Lovely, lovely ideas. Now, to start shredding!