Key information

Colour: Green to dark green, although you can also find yellow (or ‘golden’) varieties.

Power to perform: Vitamin C helps keep your cells healthy and boosts our immune system to help fight infections. Humans can’t store vitamin C in our bodies, so this means we need to eat vitamin C-rich foods, like courgettes, every day to get what we need.

In season: June to September.

Grow me: Courgettes can be planted from late March to the beginning of summer and are best kept in a sunny spot with plenty of water. The plant will be ready for its first harvest after about eight weeks and, if picked regularly, will continue to produce vegetables throughout its season.

Did you know?

• You are probably used to seeing courgettes that are long and thin, like cucumbers, but did you know that you can also grow round courgettes? Round courgettes come in both green and yellow varieties and look like little pumpkins.
• In the United States, a courgette is called a zucchini. If that sounds Italian to you, that’s because it is! Italian traders first brought the vegetable to the US in the 1920s and the name stuck.
• The world’s heaviest courgette was grown in Wales in 1990. It weighed a humongous 29.25 kilograms! That’s about the same as 52 basketballs, or 293 blueberry muffins!

Ideas garden
Remember to ask an adult's permission before experimenting with any courgette ideas!

Get creative

Courgettes are very versatile – they can be used in many types of food. However, to get really creative, why not test your master skills with a stuffed courgette boat? Start by cutting a courgette in half (lengthways) and scooping out the centre. Next, chop up the scooped-out courgette and mix it with your choice of filling (pizza toppings, bolognese, vegetables, onion, garlic, or other herbs and spices). Spoon the filling back into the courgette and top it off with cheese ready to be baked in the oven.

The variations on this dish are endless, but how about adding some finishing touches after cooking to make your boat come to life? Using cocktail sticks, you can set up sails with lettuce leaves, make a crew with baby carrots, or add a slice of cucumber for a wheel – you can go as crazy as you like!

Get cooking

The courgette’s simple flavour makes it a great food to replace other ingredients – a vegetable master of disguise! Why don’t you try your hand at a courgette burger or some trendy courgetti (courgette spaghetti)? You can make your own courgetti using a kitchen tool called a spiralizer or with a food grater. You can also simply cut the courgette very thinly by hand (though you should never attempt this without the help of an adult).

Courgettes are also a superb way to give your meals some added plant power! Chop them up and add them to a hearty vegetable curry, or grate them and bake them with turkey mince for a tasty stuffed pepper meal idea.