Heirloom, Non-GMO, Open-Pollinated
This marvelous Italian heirloom reliably delivers both in the garden and on the plate. Highly productive plants bear plenty of long, slender, curved fruits that wrap around vines, trellises, and sometimes one another. ‘Zucchetta Rampicante’ also known as ‘Tromboncino,’ excels as a summer squash—it’s tender, mild, and sweet—but has also long been used in Italy as a winter squash in pies, ravioli, and gnocchi. Immature fruits are pale green with white streaks; mature squash are tan with white streaks. As an added bonus, its large, yellow flowers attract pollinators aplenty.
Prolific vining plants produce curved, “trombone-shaped” squash when grown on the ground or straighter fruits when trellised off the ground. Squash measures 2–3” in diameter, widening to 4–5” at the bulbous blossom end and weighing 5–8 pounds. Days to maturity: 60–70 for summer squash, 90–100 for winter squash.
Harvest ‘Zucchetta Rampicante’ as a tender summer squash or a mature winter squash. For use as a summer squash, harvest when the fruit is young, tender, green, and about 8–10” long. For use as a winter squash, allow the fruit to fully mature on the vine until the skin turns a tan or buttery color and the flesh becomes dense.
Short-term, young squash will keep fresh in the refrigerator for about a week. To store this variety for a longer period of time, allow it to mature on the vine until the skin is hard and tan, then cure it in a warm, dry place for a week or two. After curing,it will keep up to three months if stored whole in a cool, dark, and well-ventilated area.
This squash variety adds a distinctive taste to a diverse range of dishes. With a sweeter, milder flavor and firmer texture than zucchini, ‘Zucchetta Rampicante,’ when harvested as a summer squash, excels both raw in salads and sandwiches and cooked in various ways (boiling, grilling, baking, sautéing, and roasting). When used as a winter squash, it is less dense than a traditional butternut but can be baked into pies, added to soups and stews, and used in traditional Italian dishes like ravioli and gnocchi.
‘Zucchetta Rampicante,’ (or ‘Tromboncino’) squash is an heirloom climbing squash from the Liguria region of Italy that was first documented in American gardening literature in 1863 by Fearing Burr. Seed Savers Exchange received this variety in the early 2000s from Jaime Poris, an Exchange lister in Boulder Creek, California, who had purchased the variety in 1990 from R.H. Shumway.
