I had a big surprise in my garden this summer – a squash that grows like a ‘weed’. Zucchini
Young rampicante
rampicante (Cucurbita moschata) is an Italian heirloom zucchini also known as Zucchetta Rampicante or Tromboncino squash.
I thought I was sowing the Chinese pumpkin or Chinese zucchini seeds which my gardening friends and I like to grow each year. I acquired the seeds at our monthly crop swap at Our Place container
village on the last Sunday of the month labelled ‘Chinese pumpkin’. They grew well and I planted two plants in my compost heap and in an area where they could spread out. They grew fast and to my surprise they produced strange curling fruits. And they were prolific!
Male flower
Rampicante produces numerous male yellow flowers, more than female flowers and now and then I helped pollinate the female flowers identified with the fruit behind the flower. I took a male flower with a pollen covered anther, stripped away the petals and dabbed the anther inside the female flower. This ensures a
Pollinating the female flower
fruit will set and not whither away and die if not pollinated. (you can also do this with ordinary zucchini flowers to ensure pollination). The male flowers are very edible being crunchy and mild flavoured. They can be wilted and added to salad or stuffed with rice or quinoa or pasta. Check online for recipes.
The strange curling lime green fruits with white stripes kept growing and growing, the largest now measuring in at 97cm long with a straight thick neck and a curled around bulbous end where the seeds are. They’re like yellow bumpy crook neck squash (Cucurbita pepo) on steroids – I can’t believe their size! As they’re maturing they’re turning more and more beige just like the colour of butternuts to which they are closely related.
Huge maturing fruit
I’m so pleased to have the rampicante as my ordinary zucchini started well, then stopped due to the cold snap we had and they never recovered. I started eating the rampicante like zucchini and they were tasty cut lengthwise and fried in oil. Shows we need a variety of vegetables as we never know which crops will flourish and which won’t. They’re also drought tolerant – I only watered the plants twice during the long dry summer.
The rampicante with its large leaves with silvery white markings on the veins loves to climb and one
Rampicante climbing up the hedge
took off up the hedge, but as the fruit grew their weight dragged them back to earth where they’ve become as I said nearly a metre long! They’d grow well on a trellis or support. Kings seed company say it can be eaten as a summer squash and keeps well as a winter squash. I’m looking forward to winter soups and baked rampicante.
Since the flesh is so dense, it’s perfect for grilling especially to feed a big party. Slice up the long neck into thick rounds, and load them up with thick-sliced heirloom tomatoes, pepperoni, capers and herbs, all topped with melted cheese. It’s like pizza, only better. Or alternatively try tomatoes, capsicum, capers, herbs with nut cheese or tempeh.
This is a squash I’ll definitely grow again.
