"Dry-Cured" Zucchini

A way with Zucchini

Zucchini in the Garden

If you grow a garden and have planted zucchini, you’ve probably noticed that there is always too much and too soon. Just ahead of harvesting, you return the next morning to see that your squash has put on inches under the moon! Farmers’ markets and Green Markets also display mountains of zucchini throughout the summer months. Varieties abound from the common tubular green and yellow smooth-skinned varieties to the spherical Ronde de Nice to the Italian heirlooms— pale green ribbed Costata Romanesco and the serpentine, bell-bottomed Tromba di Albenga - to name only a few.

For the gardener or summer vegetable enthusiast, what to do with the abundance is one of the challenges of this prodigious vegetable. No matter what the variety, zucchini have a mild to barely noticeable flavor that needs to be rescued from blandness. Because it is made up of 90-95% water and a small amount of fiber, when cooked with other ingredients or seasonings, zucchini readily absorbs these flavors. And unless the cooking method significantly reduces water content, zucchini can be disappointingly sodden. Some cooking methods help: Frying in a batter or in a crumb casing adds crispness and locks in its subtle taste. Broiling improves the appearance and grilling adds a smokey accent; halved and hollowed out, zucchini makes a fine boat for a savory filling. But all of these approaches lead to the conclusion that zucchini is a highly dependent vegetable, only as good as the crust, the condiment, or the filling.

The challenge then is to deal with the plenitude and to devise a method to concentrate zucchini’s muted flavor. My own method significantly reduces the volume of the raw vegetable, greatly improves its texture, and makes it last due to salting, heating, drying, acidifying, and refrigeration. It may sound complicated but can actually be accomplished in 30 minutes of hands-on time, not including the period of salting or drying to which you don’t need to attend.

Dry-Curing

I use the term “dry-cured” figuratively to describe a process that otherwise characterizes the drying of meat and the ripening of its aroma and flavor. But dry-curing zucchini doesn’t involve enzymatic breakdown or microbial fermentation. If you salt freshly sliced zucchini and let it sit, you’ll notice that it voluntarily exudes its water. Further ridding the water by squeezing it out in a kitchen towel reduces its raw weight by 40-50%. Add to this a brief dunk in boiling vinegar-spiked water; allow the slices to dry in their own steam; season, pack in a jar, and the process is complete. The result is a vibrant pickle with a pleasant crunch that carries the southern Italian savor of garlic, olive oil, peperoncino, and mint.

Yellow “Zephyr” Zucchini

The Blueprint