No matter the source, home garden, farmers market or your favorite grocery store, there’s no better time to enjoy zucchini, a variety of summer squash, than right now. Zucchini grows fast, but as it matures, its skin thickens and becomes tough, so for optimum flavor, its best to choose zucchinis that are small to medium in size, vivid in color and free of bruises for your favorite zucchini recipes. Among my favorite recipes using zucchini is one for an intensely flavored Double Chocolate Zucchini Loaf and a new find for Zucchini Cakes with Spicy Aioli, which I stumbled across on the General Electric Appliance website (http://genet.geappliances.com/Recipes). As a resource for recipes, appliance websites might be a venue you’ve not explored, but once you do, you’ll want to linger. General Electric, the manufacturer of my stove, offers more than a dozen recipes in which zucchini is included, with recipes for dishes like Vegetarian Baked Ziti with Zucchini and Sundried Tomatoes, End of Summer Vegetable Casserole and Veggie Pizza piquing both my interest – and my taste buds.

You’ll need no more than six medium zucchinis to prepare the recipes here, but with zucchini being so plentiful and so many zucchini recipes yet to try, better count on picking up more.

Sue Ade is a syndicated food writer with broad experience and interest in the culinary arts. She has worked and resided in the Lowcountry of South Carolina since 1985 and may be reached at kitchenade@yahoo.com.