Marrows are another component of farm biodiversity….plants that are not “wild” or native to a particular area but have been aclima- tised for food purposes. Marrows, like all squash, originated in the Americas. A marrow is a vegetable, the mature fruit of certain Cucurbita pepo cultivars. The immature fruit of the same or similar cultivars is called courgette (in Britain, Ireland, France, the Ne- therlands, Singapore, Malaysia and New Zealand) or zucchini (in North America, Australia, Czechia, Italy, Germany and Austria). Whereas botanically marrows are fruit, a type of botanical berry, being the swollen ovary of the marrow flower, (see photo) in a culinary context, marrows are treated as a vegetable. |