Black Beauty Zucchini

It has been a few years since we have grown zucchini in our garden. This season we decided to try the heirloom, Black Beauty, variety from the Seed Savers Exchange.

An interesting note about zucchini is that it is actually a fruit. It comes in three different colors, yellow, green or light green and generally taste better the smaller that it is. They are a good source of Vitamin C, an important antioxidant. They are also extremely low in total fat so if you are watching your daily intake this is a good "veggie" to consider. It is also believed that they help protect against colon cancer.

You can bake them, fry them, eat them raw and even use them to bake bread with. As for storage we either blanche them and put them in the freezer or dehydrate them.

If you happen to be growing the heirloom variety you can save your seed by allowing the fruit to pass maturity by three weeks and then remove the seed. You will want to wash the seed and let it dry before storing in a cool place, such as your fridge for the winter.