How watery do your zucchini end up?

[PinkPetalPolygon]

I had a question:

How watery are your zucchinis when you end up picking them? Do your zucchinis drip with water when you cook them?

I noticed that mine were *very* watery, and I was just wondering if that was normal? They tasted wonderful anyway, but I am an easy customer.

(I realize and/or assume that if I watered the plants less they would be less watery?)

Or is excess liquid something some people shoot for / generally have? I felt like I was eating watermelon and it was interesting... is it just a matter of preference? How do you feel?

[bobbyg]

I just picked some today and sauteed after dicing it. I would say I didn't see any water at all. It was just like store bought except tasted so much fresher and required less of cooking time.

[imafan26]

If your zucchini is watery it is because the plant is getting more water. If you back off a little it will not be as watery.

A similar thing happens with papaya. I don't pick papaya if it has been raining heavily since it makes the papaya mealy. I wait a few days for it to dry out and the fruit is fine then.

[PinkPetalPolygon]

Hey guess what!

I let my zucchini sit overnight or a few days or something like that, and when I cut it open it didn't gush out water.

I read somewhere that there are nutrients lost as soon as you pick a vegetable or fruit off the vine so I had been cutting it like 5 minutes after I plucked it.

But when I left it on the counter for a day or two and then cut it, it wasn't overly watery at all!

I'm going to experiment next time I harvest zucchini and see if the water settles after an hour ??? Or if more time is necessary?

Here's a more in depth question I guess:

Are you people who say your zucchini aren't overly watery cutting into your zucchini less than 20 minutes after you pick it?

&

Are there really nutrients that exist when the vegetable is on the vine that diminish as soon as they are picked?

[applestar]

Well, classic example is traditional non-sugar enhanced corn that loses sweetness if not cooked right away. Sugar turns into starch.

But then there are apples and pumpkins, sweet potatoes, etc. that need curing time for starch to be turned into sugar.

In either case, I would assume some kind of chemical change is taking place and what might have been nutrients could be broken down and lost?

Also once cut open and exposed to air, there are nutrients that are oxidized -- which if I remember my chemistry correctly, means oxygen molecule or atom hooks up with them and changes their nature -- maybe sometimes into form that is now not as easily absorbed when eaten? Or destroyed?

I've cut zucchini, cucumber, squash, etc. and they would bead up along the cut. I think when fresh from the vine, the vascular system are still intact and they are essentially bleeding. Maybe they all collapse after a while and fluid transport is no longer possible.

[kayjay]

I had a question:

How watery are your zucchinis when you end up picking them? Do your zucchinis drip with water when you cook them?

Is this in comparison to store-bought zucchini? I've always found zucchini to release a ton of water when you cook it, almost like mushrooms.

The zucchini I grew last year were pretty much identical to store bought in terms of water content, FWIW.

[imafan26]

If I don't overwater the plant, the zucchini is not watery and has a better flavor. If I pick the zuchhini or tomatoes after it has been raining a few days, they are more swollen and the taste is not as strong. If I wait a few days to let the plants dry out the flavor is better and the fruit are less soggy. Unfortunately, the tomatoes will almost always be cracked if they were close to being ripe.

[jal_ut]

"How watery are your zucchinis when you end up picking them? Do your zucchinis drip with water when you cook them?"

Oh my goodness..... I reckon that a zucchini fruit is about 85 % water.... Just don't worry about it.

[kayjay]

Another thought: I make zucchini chips in my dehydrator. A pound of zucchini would produce maybe 1 or 2 oz of chips. I should weigh them before/after sometime. I think Jal is correct with 85% water content.

[Gary350]

Like all vegetables if they get lots of rain it reduces the flavor not much you can do about that but you can turn off the irrigation system.