Courgette Zucchini

The Italian courgette, slimmer and more elegant than the British bush types, with a deeper, glossier near-black skin. Zucchini is simply the Italian word for what we call a courgette, but as a variety name it refers to one of the original Italian strains that established the vegetable in European gardens.

The flavour is a little sweeter and nuttier than the British type, most noticeably when the fruits are picked small. The Italian tradition favours them at fifteen to eighteen centimetres, and it is right to.

Worth knowing: the male flowers are a delicacy in their own right, picked in the morning before they open, dipped in a light batter and fried. Each plant produces far more male flowers than female, and only the females set fruit, so taking a few costs you nothing. Check for the thin stem behind the flower rather than the swelling of a baby courgette.