Since summer squash varieties can have sudden growth spurts that rival a teenager’s, it’s important to peek at your plants every day or two. In optimal growing conditions, squash can seemingly appear overnight and can quickly grow beyond the best size to enjoy them.
How do you know when summer squash is ready to pick?
If you get in the habit of checking your squash plants daily, you will be sure you catch them when they are the perfect size and flavor. The other benefit of picking them right away is that harvesting encourages the plant to produce more squash.
While large zucchinis are good candidates for sweet breads, muffins, or shredding for fritters, one of the best ways to enjoy summer squash is when they are young and tender. Pick your zucchini, crookneck squash, and other yellow varieties when they are about 5 to 7 inches long. Let round summer varieties—like the scalloped pattypan squash or round zucchini—grow 2 to 4 inches in diameter, that’s somewhere in the neighborhood of a tennis ball and a softball.
Harvesting squash before they grow too big ensures a sweeter flavor. In fact, try picking some when they are even smaller. Baby zucchini is delicious and cute too. Yellow squash can be picked as soon as the skin is glossy and easily pierced.
Don’t miss out on squash blossoms
One of the extra benefits of growing your own squash is the opportunity to enjoy fresh squash flowers. Stuffed and fried, sautéed, baked, or tossed in a salad, squash blossoms are a special summer treat.
Squash plants grow male and female flowers. If you don’t want to lose out on any squash, pick the male flowers, which typically grow on long, thin stems, and unlike the female flowers, don’t have a swelling (future squash) at the base. In the morning, when the flower is fully open, carefully pinch or twist the base of the delicate flower to remove it from the stem.
Squash blossoms are best when used right away. If you must store them, put the flowers in a sealed container that’s lined with a paper towel, and refrigerate. Use within 1 to 2 days.
What’s the best way to pick summer squash?
Oftentimes you can just twist squash right off its vine—especially if you are wearing garden gloves. But you may want to keep a pair of garden scissors or harvesting shears handy to snip the squash off the plant. Avoid pulling the squash so as not to injure the plant itself.
While squash isn’t exactly fragile, you do want to be careful how you handle it so as not to mar the skin.
Should summer squash be refrigerated?
While squash blossoms should be enjoyed right away, when it comes to the squash itself, you’re not in as much of a rush. If you’re planning on eating it within a few days, leave it out, in a cool, dry place, away from direct sunlight.
If you need a little more time, the refrigerator is a great option. Don’t wash the squash first. In fact, it needs to be as dry as possible. Place them in a paper bag or perforated plastic bag to allow for air circulation, and put them in the crisper drawer of your refrigerator. If no moisture gets in, your summer squash will last at least one week, and possibly two.
How to freeze summer squash
For longer-term storage—up to 3 months—you can freeze your summer squash. First slice, dice, or grate the squash, then blanch it by dropping it into boiling water or steaming it for 1 to 5 minutes. The larger the pieces, the longer the timing. Remove the squash from the boiling water and plunge it into an ice bath. Then drain the squash and set out on a towel to dry.
Once the squash is completely dry, set it on a baking sheet in a single layer and flash-freeze for one hour. Then transfer to a freezer-safe bag or container, label, and freeze until you’re ready to use it in baked goods, a casserole, quiche, sauté, or soup.
Delicious summer squash recipes
Summer squash isn’t just easy to grow and quick to harvest, it’s also highly versatile. Of course it’s great on the grill, but from soups, stews, and salads to casseroles, fritters, and zoodles (squash that’s thinly sliced or spiralized into noodles) there are so many more ways to enjoy this summer treat. That’s not even counting breads, cakes, cookies, brownies, and pies.
If you’re interested in a meal option where you can enjoy not just the flavor and texture of summer squash, but the fun shape, try making Stuffed Summer Squash.
Stuffed Summer Squash
Ingredients
4-6 summer squash—classic or 8-ball zucchini, yellow squash, or pattypan
1 cup of your favorite grain—like rice, quinoa, millet, freekeh, cooked
1 can of your favorite beans, rinsed and drained
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tomato, diced
1 bell pepper, diced
Fresh herbs, such as parsley, basil, or thyme, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
Olive oil
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 375°.
Clean the squash, slice each one in half (long-ways for the straight varieties).
Use a spoon to scoop out the seeds and some of the flesh, leaving a hollow cavity in each half and at least ¼-inch of flesh intact.
Drizzle olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
Add chopped onion and cook a few minutes until translucent.
Add the garlic and cook another minute, until fragrant.
Add the bell pepper, and any squash you scooped, cooking until softened.
Add the tomato and cook another 1 to 2 minutes.
In a large bowl, combine the cooked veggies, cooked grains, drained beans, and any fresh herbs, and mix well to combine, then add salt and pepper to taste.
Place the hollowed-out squash on a foil-lined baking sheet and spoon mixture into each squash.
Cover the sheet with foil and bake 20 to 25 minutes. Remove the foil and bake another 10 to 15 minutes, until golden brown on top.
Note:
You can customize this recipe by trying different grains, beans, herbs, and vegetables, like mushrooms, corn, fennel, peas, artichoke hearts, or spinach.
Summer squash from your garden may be one of the easiest, most delicious parts of your summer.
