Kitchen Garden Forum

The question is when does a courgette become a marrow? Not talking botanically here, just size. There are specific marrow varieties. It's just people often refer to their oversized courgettes as 'marrows'. So at what point does it stop being a courgette to you and it becomes a 'marrow'?

KG Emma wrote:The question is when does a courgette become a marrow? Not talking botanically here, just size. There are specific marrow varieties. It's just people often refer to their oversized courgettes as 'marrows'. So at what point does it stop being a courgette to you and it becomes a 'marrow'?

When it stops looking like the ones on the left and looks like the one in the middle. The one on the right is but a few days away from marrow status!

KG Emma wrote:So at what point does it stop being a courgette to you and it becomes a 'marrow'?

The minute you go on holiday. Or even away for the weekend

I class a Courgette as a Marrow, when it's large enough for stuffing.....

So presumably there is a point when it is neither a marrow nor a courgette.... be it only for a minute or two?

I asked the same question many years ago on this very forum and somebody (was it you, OH?) wrote that when the flat seed is soft, it's a courgette, when it's gone hard, it's a marrow, easily checked by biting it!

I would personally say there are two ways to tell the difference; one is when you have to cut out where the seeds are in the middle because it has become too chewy or two when you cannot get your fingernail into the skin easily. It is really a moveable feast though because it all depends on what you are cooking.
Regards Sally Wright

if its fatter than an average cucumber its past it as a courgette but still too small to be a marrow.

When it's too big to eat raw as a crudité, i.e. more than about 4 inches long. I like them sliced raw in salads when they're this tiny and still crunchy. For me that's the whole point of growing them so you can pick them at the point you like. For me, most of the courgettes sold in supermarkets are too big.

Mine all died last year I think it was to wet for them but the year before we were picking the at around three inches long and eating them most did not get off the plot we even had a couple of jars of dips in the shed

To be honest I don't like either, though I am growing one of my free seeds, don't want too many of the blighters. It's easy tell them apart, the large marrows are the courgettes you missed when you last looked. lol