Zucchini are the summer vegetable par excellence, many grow it for home use in their own garden. But especially home-grown zucchini and squash can be fatal.
The pumpkin family can contain the substance cucurbitacin. The toxic substance is bred out of common varieties that are available in the supermarket. But in the course of self-rearing with your own seeds, the poison can form again in the vegetables.
Heat favors the poison
According to experts, however, it is not just backcrossing or a mutation, which may arise when growing your own crop, that brings the poison back into the vegetables. Even very hot temperatures favor the formation of the bitter substance. Then the vegetables come under stress, which can also stimulate the development of cucurbitacin.
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Just don’t put zucchini on with pumpkins
It becomes dangerous if zucchini is grown near ornamental gourds. The closeness of the plants to each other can lead to backcrossing, which in turn can result in zucchini with cucurbitacin.
In addition, zucchini and pumpkin seeds obtained in your own garden should not be used for further cultivation. Commercial seeds are considered safe.
How to recognize the toxin
Caution is advised if the vegetables taste or smell bitter. Then you should be sure to keep your hands off and throw away a prepared dish. Because even when cooking, the toxic substance is not destroyed. Cucurbitacin is irritating to the gastric mucosa.
Depending on how much gets into the body, symptoms like
come. In the worst case, life-threatening, bloody diarrhea can occur. In summer 2015, a man from southwestern Germany even died after eating zucchini stew.
Store zucchini in a cool, dark place
A good zucchini can be recognized by the fact that it tastes neutral or slightly sweet when cooked raw or cooked. Solid zucchini with a smooth, shiny, undamaged skin is best. Whether yellow or green zucchini is completely irrelevant, because the taste and possible uses are identical in both variants. Because they are very sensitive to pressure, zucchini with dents should not be selected when buying. For storage, they are best wrapped individually in parchment paper or a dry cloth.
Zucchini stay fresh for around a week
They can be stored in a cool, dark place for a week until they become bad. It is best to keep them in the vegetable compartment of the fridge. But they shouldn’t be next to tomatoes, bananas or apples. They emit the ripening gas ethylene and let the zucchini age faster.
Prepare zucchini properly
There are many recipes with zucchini. They are particularly suitable for pan dishes, soups or salads. In pureed form, they are suitable as delicious dips with grilled meat, fish or bread. Zucchini pickled in marinade or oil can also be grilled or fried. The mild vegetables are also perfect for a baby porridge. You don’t have to peel the vegetables. It is much more advisable to cook them unpeeled, otherwise the zucchini will boil over quickly. Read more about the correct preparation here.
It’s in the zucchini
Courgettes are characterized primarily by the high content of nutrients such as
- calcium
- magnesium
- iron
- phosphate
such as
- Vitamin A (provitamin A)
- Vitamin B1
- Vitamin B2
- Vitamin B6
- Folic acid
- vitamin C
- Vitamin E.
With a calorie content of around 18 calories per 100 grams, the summer vegetables are a light, but very nutritious companion for losing weight. A healthy diet is particularly important during pregnancy, since the increased nutritional needs that are necessary for the optimal development of the baby’s bones and skeleton must be met. The zucchini is ideal for this.
When is zucchini season?
Zucchini is available all year round in the supermarket. For the most part, however, these are imported goods from Spain, Morocco or the USA. The harvest time for courgettes from Germany is between July and October. Pay attention to the season when shopping to get ripe and fresh vegetables. Here the vitamin and nutrient content is as high as possible, and the environment is not unnecessarily polluted.
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