In addition to ‘Cube of Butter,’ another of our favorite zucchini varieties in the Hearthwilde garden is this Italian heirloom, ‘Costata Romanesca.’
What initially appealed to me about this summer squash, after its long history, was its ridges.
Texture is a big thing for me, just as important as how things look. The ridges on this heirloom variety give it a nice solid feel – it’s easy to get a grip on.
And because of the ridges, cutting this zucchini crosswise gives the slices an interesting pattern – more star-like than circular.
When we grew this in our 2020 garden, it was almost as productive as the high-yielding hybrid mentioned above, ‘Cube of Butter.’ The squashes grew large without becoming seedy, and were utterly delectable, even at forearm size.
I used Costata to make lots of sauteed summer squash dishes – as well as the occasional zucchini bread. Usually we picked them too big to use them for making zoodles.
This variety quickly became a favorite in our garden and will be one that we plant year after year.
Want to see some of the other plants we grew in our garden from seed?