How to ripen a zucchini...?

Question

I am making a new soup recipe that involves zucchini. I went to my back yard and picked a zucchini from our garden. The recipe says that you need to cube the zucchini. I took out a sharp knife and to my surprise, the zucchini was as hard as a brick. I had a "blond" moment and forgot that the zucchini needs to be a ripe one.

This is a gianormous zucchini. Can I microwave it and ripen it? I realize this is a really dumb question, but I'm h**l-bent on making this soup tonight. Any suggestions??

Answer 1

Your zucchini is hard because you let it get too big, not because it isn't ripe.

Zucchinis taste better when they're small and tender.  You don't have to wait for them to get ripe like you would a tomato, you just eat them.

If you don't have any other zucchinis you could pick, then just cut that big one into much smaller pieces and use in the recipe as the recipe states.

Good luck!

Answer 2

place it in the window in the sun...it may ripen somewhat by dinner time..  

Answer 3

Well, I would suggest going to the store and buying one. The way to ripen is to put in your window sill, or if you don't have one put onto the kitchen table or where-ever a window is in your kitchen..Also, the reason it won't work in the microwave is because you will be pre-cooking it and I don't think it will taste very good once the soup is fully done. Good luck.

Answer 4

How strange.  Usually when they're huge, they're more than ripe:)  Maybe if you poked it with a fork, and baked it for about 10 min, it might soften up.  You could try to microwave it (poke it first, so it doesn't explode), but it might be too big to fit in there.....