Zucchini is not a European native, at least it wasn't at first. It is a Western Hemisphere plant the seeds of which have been found in Mexican archaeological digs dating back as far as 9000 BC. All of those Italian and Spanish explorers who sailed around and hiked all over the New World took back the first ones when they went home, Columbus among them. Even then they thought it was a melon! The Native Americans used a word for it that meant "to be eaten raw," which may be the worst way to eat a zucchini. Maybe that is why it was some time in the 1800s before zucchini became a popular vegetable in Italy where it was called zucca, which means "squash." "Zucchini," is the diminutive form and is plural because an Italian word ending in "i" usually is. (You ate one panino at lunch, not one panini, no matter what the menu says.) On what date did all this happen? I have no idea, and neither did anyone I consulted. April 25 seems an odd day to choose, since they aren't producing yet, not even here in North Florida gardens, but so be it.
Zucchini's popularity can be explained primarily by both its ease in growing and its bountifulness. It may not be that one zucchini plant will yield 100 of the things, but it sure seems that way, and that is how the recipe for zucchini bread was born—a gardener going out day after day hoping for something else but finding nothing but zucchini, and you have to do something with them! Your neighbors learn to run when they see you coming with a sackful, or they cower inside pretending not to be at home when you knock.
If you are a gardener (or know one), you have probably made your fair share of zucchini bread. We quit growing zucchini a long time ago. We prefer yellow summer squash instead. At least it has a little flavor. But it also works for zucchini bread, and I have found a way to make that little loaf that is actually worth baking, no matter which you use.
Most zucchini (or squash) bread is compact and dense, and just about flavorless. Try this instead. Take your usual recipe. Cut the amount of oil almost in half. Use brown sugar instead of white granulated, and at least double the cinnamon. If you use nuts, toast them first. Then here is the big trick—put all that grated zucchini in a dish towel and squeeze as hard as you can over a sink. You will get anywhere from ½ to 1 cup of water out of that squash. No wonder the loaf was flavorless. It was literally washed out.
Now you will have a lighter loaf that is still plenty moist and actually has some flavor instead of that compact brick that hardly rises above the top of the pan. In fact, you won’t mind serving this one to guests, and they won’t run away and hide when you mention it either.
Modern organized religion has suffered the same fate as that old zucchini bread recipe. It is literally washed out from all the additions men have made. Just as schools are now expected to teach the things that parents should teach at home, churches are expected to right the social injustices in this world and support every worthy cause in manpower and money. You can read the New Testament from Matthew to Revelation and never find half the things found in a modern denomination. But then these are the same people who, like the Jews of Jesus’ day, expect a physical kingdom on this earth. They’ve stopped hoping for Heaven and settled for a poor imitation on this earth.
My kingdom is not of this world, Jesus said, John 18:36. Jeremiah prophesied that no one from the lineage of Jeconiah (the kingly line of Judah through David) would ever sit on the throne reigning in Jerusalem, despite the beliefs of thousands of dispensationalists, Jer 22:31. The work of the church is not about feeding the hungry—it’s about feeding the soul. It’s not about making sure everyone has a fair shake in this life—it’s about enduring that injustice and preparing ourselves to be fit for the next life. Check this out yourself: churches that are sold on the social gospel no longer preach much about heaven. To them this life is what matters and that’s why they are so hung up on it. That’s why their religion is so waterlogged with extraneous rituals and activities. That’s why so many of the “un-churched” are turned off by the dense brick of bread they are handed instead of the bread of life.
Get out your Bibles and examine your church against the one in the New Testament. Look through Acts and see how they converted sinners. Here’s a hint: it wasn’t with soup kitchens and Wednesday night potlucks. Now look through the epistles and see the work they did. It had nothing to do with gymnasiums and playgrounds. See what they did when they met together for a formal group worship. It wasn’t about entertainment. Now maybe you can see the difference between an oily sodden brick of bread and a light flavorful loaf that actually appeals to the appetite.
But then maybe it’s your appetite that is the problem in the first place.
Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, You seek me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves, and were filled. Work not for the food which perishes, but for the food which abides unto eternal life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him the Father, even God, hath sealed, John 6:26-27.
Dene Ward