Vegetable marrow

Cucurbita pepo · Squash

40 pairings

The vegetable marrow is a large, mature summer squash — a cultivar group of Cucurbita pepo — grown to full size with a firm, ridged, green-striped rind and dense, pale, watery flesh. A staple of British and Commonwealth kitchen gardens, it is culturally distinct from the zucchini (courgette) that is simply the same plant picked young, and it is prized less for bold flavour than for its size, its mildness and its readiness to be hollowed, stuffed and baked.

Picking a good onedrag

Glossy, heavy, silentDull, rattling, soft

Shop firmThe classic: hollow it out, stuff and bake; or peel, dice and stew.Everyday best

SkinMatte skin, colour still even

Heft and shakeHeavy, a faint shift inside

Stem endStem dry and hard, set tight

Smell at the stem scarAlmost nothing at all

What to look for, from glossy, heavy, silent to dull, rattling, soft.

Keeping ittap a band

Not the fridge: below 5 C the rind pits and loses water faster, and it can look sound while cold, then decay fast once it warms up.

Humidity

95%

Around 95%: a marrow dulls and shrivels on as little as 3% of its weight lost, thicker rind or not. Keep it unwashed and loosely covered.

Airflow

Vented, not sealed

Vented, not sealed, and not stacked deep: the rind is tender and scuffs easily, and a scuff under condensation is where soft rot starts.

Yellows beside ripening fruit

It gives off very little itself but reacts to what does: keep it off the shelf with apples, bananas and ripe tomatoes, whose ethylene yellows the green rind.

Preparing