Storing Courgettes

[FlowerFaerie]

My yellow courgettes are all growing superbly, so if i want to store them over the winter, what kind of conditions do they do the best in?

Im thinking, probably my garage, but just want to make sure

[paulsherwin]

You can't store courgettes. Once you have harvested them they will start to deteriorate and must be eaten within a couple of weeks, the sooner the better. They will gradually go soft and eventually shrivel up.

You can freeze them reasonably well - chop or slice them, parboil them for a minute or two, cool them under the cold tap and let them dry out. You can then freeze them in bags. If you're careful you can freeze all the bits individually so you can use as much or as little as you want each time. You cook them from frozen like most frozen veg. They won't be quite as tasty or firm as fresh courgettes but are perfectly edible.

If you have a huge glut they make a nice soup, or you can cook lots of ratatouille (especially handy if you have a glut of tomatoes as well) and freeze portions of that.

Paul