exposure by Rick Gush
illustrious among Sicilians , the cucuzza squash is now available all over Italy .
Italians call this edible calabash , which is commonly spring up in Sicily , cucuzza(pronounced ku - kootz ) . The botanical name isLagenaria siceraria , but that does n’t tell one much , because that particular species is adulterate with unlike varieties .
This edible variety ofsquashis a close cousin of round , fruited calabash or water gourd vine or bird’s - nest gourd . There are a pot of differentLagenariaspecies , include dozens of different - shaped , difficult - eggshell gourds , but I think the cucuzza might be the most robust of all the squash vines . I ’ve had bird’s - nest gourd plant develop 30 animal foot in length , and I ’ve heard news report ofLagenariavines climbing up onto telephone wires . TheseLagenariasquash flora are from the Old World , around India , and they are generally even hardier than the aboriginal American curcubita gourd crush .
Cucuzza are straight , green gourd , sometimes with a svelte crimp . The feel sort of liketrombette crush , but the peel is a non-white greenish and much harder . The kind is different as well , since cucuzza generally taper uniformly from the thinner neck to the basis , which is perhaps twice the diameter . Trombette often have a thickened knob at the final stage of their fruit .
Cucuzza are as easy to develop as any squash . Commercial agriculturalist of cucuzza grow a good deal of them ingreenhouses , so that mean they commonly hand - pollenate the vainglorious , whiteflowers . I call back the best growing systems admit a trellis organisation that allows the vines to sprawl across a horizontal gridwork in such a way that the 2- and 3 - infantry - long fruits can give ear down vertically . Many grower call back that cutting the rearing vines short keeps the plant setting more flush and producing sequential crops of the fruit .
My ownLagenariavines were like most wintertime squash vines in that , at the goal of the season , they were n’t beautiful , and the once - bright - green leaves were unremarkably white and yellow , having been desolate by mildew . In general , the crop has always been both easy and fruitful for me .
The immature cucuzza fruits , which are usually about 18 column inch to 2 feet long , can be cooked just like a summer squash racquets , except that they should ordinarily be peeled beforehand . Some cooks like to take out the seeds because they can be fairly large , even in the young fruits . The cucuzza is an worked up front-runner of Sicilian cooks and buffet car , and Sicilian cookbooks are full of cucuzza formula .
There are so many playfulness miscellany ofLagenaria , that I ’m indisputable the future tense will see many more small sodbuster in the United States civilise this craw . Some of these farmers will become the United States cucuzza - develop champ , while others will declare oneself a few dozen of the different physique these squashes offer , selling their plants in spring .
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