Did you know every August 8th is “National Sneak your Zucchini on your Neighbors Porch Day”? Vegetable gardeners with too many “green clubs” and a conscience which will not allow them to toss their overabundance of the fruit, make themselves feel better by anonymously leaving zucchini on neighbor’s porches. The best of these gardeners will arrive on neighbor’s porches, stealth like, at night to leave their pile of zucchini for these poor soles to deal with in the morning!
The word zucchini means small gourd. The green Italian squash was once used as a reference to the small, dried squash used as a container for tobacco. By the 1840s, the Tuscan word zucchini was appropriated to small gourd. The world’s heaviest zucchini, grown by Bernard Lavery of Plymouth Devon in England, was 69.5 inches long and weighed 65 pounds. Zucchini is actually a fruit. Hopefully you won’t find a fruit that size on your porch!
Such a fun and silly national day! If you are lucky enough to find zucchini on your porch, try our Blueberry Lemon Zucchini Bread recipe below.
O’Live A Little’s Blueberry Orange Zucchini Bread
Ingredients:
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup dark brown sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup O’Live A Little’s Lemon Lovers Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 1 tablespoon vanilla Extract
- 1 tablespoon Lemon Zest
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/3 cups grated zucchini – once grated, wrap in towel to squeeze out excess water from zucchini
- 1 cup fresh blueberries
- 1 cup toasted pepitas or toasted chopped pecans – allow to cool before adding to batter
- Sanding sugar (optional)
Method of Prep:
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees and generously spray two 8”X4” loaf pans with non-stick spray
- Beat till combined in med speed eggs, olive oil, sugar, zest and vanilla
- Combine and stir all dry ingredients and then add to mixed ingredients above. Mix till just all incorporated. Don’t over mix
- Add grated zucchini, blueberries and pepitas or pecans. Again, mix till just incorporated.
- Portion evenly into each loaf pan
- Sprinkle tops with sanding sugar
- Bake for 50-60 minutes. Use tester to ensure center is baked prior to removing from oven
- Place baked loaves on wire rack and allow to cool for at least 30 mins prior to removing from loaf pans
