Zucchini
Edible summer squash / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The zucchini (/zuˈkiːni/ ⓘ; pl.: zucchini or zucchinis),[1] courgette (/kʊərˈʒɛt/) or baby marrow (Cucurbita pepo)[2] is a summer squash, a vining herbaceous plant whose fruit are harvested when their immature seeds and epicarp (rind) are still soft and edible. It is closely related, but not identical, to the marrow; its fruit may be called marrow when mature.[3][4][5]
Zucchini | |
---|---|
Genus | Cucurbita |
Species | Cucurbita pepo |
Origin | 19th-century northern Italy |
Ordinary zucchini fruit are any shade of green, though the golden zucchini is a deep yellow or orange.[6] At maturity, they can grow to nearly 1 metre (3 feet) in length, but they are normally harvested at about 15–25 cm (6–10 in).[7]
In botany, the zucchini's fruit is a pepo, a berry (the swollen ovary of the zucchini flower) with a hardened epicarp. In cookery, it is treated as a vegetable, usually cooked and eaten as an accompaniment or savory dish, though occasionally used in sweeter cooking.
Zucchini occasionally contain toxic cucurbitacins, making them extremely bitter, and causing severe gastero-enteric upsets. Causes include stressed growing conditions, and cross pollination with ornamental squashes.[8]
Zucchini descends from squashes first domesticated in Mesoamerica over 7,000 years ago,[9] but the zucchini itself was bred in Milan in the late 19th century.[10]