Saturday, September 29, 2012

Hey, Susan, Look At This!

My good blogging buddy Susan over at e-i-e-i-omg! posted a picture of one of her MONSTER Old German heritage tomatoes this morning.  Well done, Gardening Maven!  I haven't seen a tomato like that since my grandpa grew 'maters for all of his seven children's families (yes, he did) in the 40s, 50s and 60s.  And the flavor of those old heritage varieties cannot be surpassed.
  
This seemed like a good time for me to brag that *I* can grow big things in my garden, too.

WA-hoo, get a load of them zucchinis!

I purposely let these guys grow and grow and grow since we had our fill of that rampantly growing veggie long ago.  (Ooops, sorry, Susan, I meant to say v-e-g-e-t-a-b-l-e rather than veggie.  Forgive me.)

Okay, you guys know I'm just trying to be funny in comparing zucchinis to tomatoes.  (I mean would YOU want to eat a BLZ sandwich??)  There IS no comparison to a home grown tomato as just about anyone (even those of us way up here in the northern reaches) can grow zucchinis but surely not everyone can grow (I sure can't) humongous, luscious, prized tomatoes as Susan does. 

17 comments:

Carolyn said...

Wow. Really.
That thing is almost as big as my a......

Tombstone Livestock said...

Those for seeds for next years garden? or 2 or 3 years worth.

JoAnn ( Scene Through My Eyes) said...

Cut into quarters - dig out the seeds and then slice and use in your favorite bread and butter pickle recipe - or grind up, seeds and all if you like and make pickle relish - I use a green tomato relish recipe and substitute the giant zucchini for the green tomatoes - it is everyone's favorite - I make it every two or three years in gigantic batches, enough for all my kids and their families too.

Sparkless said...

Those look like two nice big pieces of compost! Or maybe animal food? Or you could play toss the zucchini with them? No, you are actually going to eat those big woody things?

Tami said...

Holy crap! You grow em BIG in Min-e-soda @;)

Susan said...

Holy crap, is right! I didn't think they could get that big! I woulda been plum scairt if I hada run into those bad boys in my garden! Who needs a canoe!?

Mama Pea said...

Tombstone Livestock - I wonder if the seed companies let zucchini grow this big to get their seeds from? Makes sense, doesn't it?

Mama Pea said...

JoAnn - Hi! Good to hear from you. We've eaten and preserved our quota of zucchini for this year so these guys are going to be chunked up and thrown in the poultry pen.

I have a fantastic (I think) recipe for zucchini relish that I make in big batches like you do so I only make it every two or three years.

I also let some get good sized (not THIS big though) and then slice them, season with garlic salt, a little hot pepper, dill weed, etc. and dehydrate. They are then great for dipping as you would a chip or just for something to munch as a snack.

Mama Pea said...

Sparkless - You hit it on the head! We're not going to use these for human food. The chickens and geese can play Frisbee with the slices.

Mama Pea said...

tami - What we CAN grow up here does do pretty well! Now if I could only get tomatoes like Susan's . . . sigh.

Mama Pea said...

Susan - Ha! I have a recipe for Scrambled Eggs in Zucchini Boats. You hollow out the seeds from a zucchini sliced lengthwise, parboil it and then saute it cut side down in butter in a pan, then fill with scrambled eggs and serve. Can't you just see what one of these done that way would look like? Hmmmm, wonder how many eggs I'd have to scramble to fill it?

Katidids said...

Oh my land those suckers are huge! Want to share some seeds? You chooks will be happy campers for sure

Mama Pea said...

Katidids - Aw shoot, Katie. I'd gladly have saved and sent some seeds to you but they have already gone into the poultry pen. The seeds were from Johnny's Selected Seeds, a hybrid, Raven F1. I don't usually do hybrids, but tried this one because it's touted as having a high level of lutein which is a highly effective antioxidant. I figure in these times we need all the antioxidants we can get!

Erin said...

I think you should drive around and take photos of that thing in odd places, say in the centerline of the road? How about summiting a local peak? By itself in a rowboat? LOL yes I have an odd sense of humor but you have to admit that zuke is begging for some purpose in its life!

Anonymous said...

Looks like you've got yourself a couple of new canoes--no, make that 4 canoes after you cut each in half and hollow them out! They're zucchini "boats" alright!
Hey, I'm not bragging but I'm so astonished and shocked that, this summer, I got an average of 1.5 to 2 pounder ripe tomatoes off of one of our tomato plants. It also was a heritage variety; it's called Prudens Purple. I've grown this variety before but never did I have results like this season! The warmth and rain amounts were perfect for tomatoes here. It had nothing to do with me, that's for sure!-"M"

Mama Pea said...

Erin - If postage weren't so darned expensive these days, we could mail it around the country to fellow bloggers who could all carve a message and their location on it!

Mama Pea said...

"M" - Wow! You SHOULD be proud and brag about your Prudens Purple tomatoes! All I can say is next year I'm gonna plant some full-sized heritage tomatoes here again . . . so be prepared for a COLD summer season. Happens every time I plant 'em.