Zucchini Bread

In a culinary context, zucchini are treated as vegetables, which means they are usually cooked and presented as a savory dish or accompaniment. Botanically, however, the zucchini is an immature fruit, being the swollen ovary of the female zucchini flower. Zucchini, like all summer squash, have their ancestry in the Americas. While most summer squash, including the closely related cocozelle, and marrow, were introduced to Europe during the time of European colonization of the Americas, the zucchini is European in origin, the result of spontaneously occurring mutations. In all probability, this occurred in the very late 19th century, probably near Milan; early varieties usually included the names of nearby cities in their name. The alternate name “courgette” comes from the French name of the fruit. The first records of zucchini in the United States date to the early 1920’s. It was almost certainly brought over by Italian immigrants, and probably first emerged in the United States in California. One of the most popular ways to prepare zucchini is grated and incorporated into a bread, not unlike banana bread. In this version, draining and squeezing the zucchini makes it less moist than most, and it is less sweet. Eat it with or without butter. The green flecks call to mind its zucchini origins.