Zucchini - Fruit or Vegetable?

While the answer I was seeking in last week's poll was zucchini, I was reminded by a friend that botanists would classify zucchini and green beans as fruit, not as vegetables. The only actual vegetable on the list was arugula... so if you answered arugula you were also correct (I've never tried to make a tea bread with arugula, but it might be quite tasty).

That, of course, led me to wonder why there is a disconnect between culinarians and botanists over what goes into the vegetable category. For a botanist zucchini, eggplant, tomatoes, green beans, etc. are fruits because they are part of the reproductive process of the plant. Culinarians seem to be okay with calling things that grow on trees and bushes fruits, but most things that grow on vines or ground plants we call vegetables (well, except for grapes and berries). We also think of sweetness as part of our fruit vs vegetable classification. We consider the sweeter ones fruit... but then what about vine-ripened tomatoes? Oh well, making sense of it seems pretty hopeless.

Poll Winner
Elda Rudd was last week's winner. I shared the second loaf with this cute little Starlight mouse. Fortunately he didn't eat much. But we did. This is a good recipe, no pineapple, but lots of zucchini and some pecans. I also use a little wheat flour. If you'd like a second chance to win one of these tasty loaves, answer this week's question and email me to let me know that you participated.

Challah Mice
I've been making various pastries with our vegan challah dough in preparation for some upcoming events. The challah mice are yummy. They have a bit of semisweet chocolate inside and a sprinkling of crystalized sugar on top. I'll offer them to you as well this week. They look very cute perched on a plate of salad, a cheese plate, or a fruit platter. You never know where one will show up!

Ingredients: Organic unbleached spelt flour, all purpose flour, and bread flour, Bob’s Red Mill egg substitute, soy milk, Earth Balance butter substitute, agave nectar, salt, yeast, chocolate, crystallized sugar, almonds, cloves.

Breads of the Week

Rustic White Bread is our specialty bread this week along with Rosemary Focaccia. This is the bread made with an added wild yeast starter to increase flavor.

Rustic White Bread Ingredients: Organic bread flour, water, barm (wild yeast starter), yeast, salt.

Rosemary Focaccia Ingredients: Organic flour, yeast, water, olive oil, rosemary, salt and pepper.

Prices on this Week's Items

• Rustic White Bread - $5.00
• Rosemary Focaccia- $6.00
• Vegan Challah Mouse with Chocolate Heart - $1.30

Tuesday Pickup
You can pick up your orders from the our kitchen at Crumbs 5392 Hollister on Tuesdays from noon to 5 pm (usually it's 6, but we need to get home in time for the debate). We also offer Tuesday morning delivery to your place of work if that is more convenient. Feel free to stop by for a visit on Tuesday afternoons. We usually have some extra loaves of bread if you suddenly realize you really can't wait another week without a loaf of Starlight bread.

Thanks!
Nancy and Dave Oster, Starlight Bakers