Zucchini

Zucchini belongs to Cucurbita pepo, a squash species domesticated in Mexico thousands of years ago as part of the broader Mesoamerican "Three Sisters" agricultural tradition alongside corn and beans. But zucchini itself, as a distinct type bred for harvesting immature and unripe, is a much more recent invention -- it was developed by growers in northern Italy in the late 19th century, and its name comes directly from the Italian zucca, meaning squash or gourd.

Because it's harvested as an immature fruit rather than allowed to mature into a hard-skinned winter squash, zucchini has a thin, tender skin and high water content that sets it apart from its own genetic relatives. Italian immigrants carried zucchini to the United States in the early 20th century, where it became a fixture of home gardens for its combination of prolific yield and fast turnaround from planting to harvest.

Zucchini's reputation as the vegetable gardeners can't give away fast enough comes down to its growth habit: a single healthy plant produces flowers continuously through the growing season, and fruit can go from harvestable to oversized in just a day or two of warm weather if not checked regularly.

Zucchini plants are also monoecious, producing separate male and female flowers on the same plant, and rely on bees and other pollinators to move pollen between them -- a poorly pollinated female flower is the most common cause of small fruit that yellows and rots at the blossom end rather than developing normally.