We sauté them, grill them, fry them, stuff them, spiralize them, bake them into casseroles, grate them into bread batter—and when we’re all out of ideas—we ditch them on the neighbor’s doorstep. Of all the vegetables in the garden, there may be none as versatile as the beloved zucchini.
But did you know that zucchini are far more diverse than the long, green types you find at the grocery store?
If you landed here after searching “types of zucchini,” I’m guessing you had a hunch.
In this week's post we're going to be talking all about zucchini—the different types, their uses, and growth habits. By the end, I hope you'll have discovered a few new kinds of zucchini to add to your garden lineup. Let's get started.
Zucchini, A Brief History
I’ll keep this short because I know you didn’t come here for a history lesson. But a little context helps explain how we ended up with so many different kinds of “zucchini.”
For the purposes of this article, I’m using the word zucchini the way most gardeners do today—broadly, for tender, smooth-skinned squash harvested young. Historically, many of these were described and named differently.
Zucchini belongs to Cucurbita pepo, a species domesticated in the Americas—likely in Mexico—long before European contact. After 1492, it was carried to Europe, where it was grown, crossed, and reshaped into new forms.
By the 16th and 17th centuries, Italians were already harvesting immature C. pepo fruit as vegetables. Over time, distinct types emerged. Vegetable marrows were selected as larger-fruited forms, often harvested slightly later. Cocozelle, documented by the early 1800s around Naples, were longer and often ribbed. And zucchini, the most recent, appears to have been developed in northern Italy in the 19th century, with the first clear description appearing in 1901.
What we now call “zucchini” is just one version of a broader idea. Similar tender, quick-maturing squash have been selected wherever C. pepo is grown, shaped by local preferences and cuisines.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at how different regions have shaped their own versions of “zucchini.”
Italian Types
As previously discussed, the vegetables we recognize as zucchini today are an Italian invention. Shortly after their arrival from the new world, Italians began selecting C. pepo squash to create the forms that are best known today. Below are the most popular forms.
Traditional Zucchini
They’re well known, widely loved, and grown in gardens across America. Varieties like Black Beauty and Dark Green Zucchini represent the form most of us recognize—uniform, cylindrical fruits with smooth skin and a deep green color (though lighter greens and subtle striping do occur).
Developed in northern Italy, these types were selected for consistency, productivity, and ease of harvest, which helps explain their continued dominance in both home gardens and commercial production.
Plants typically have a compact, bushy growth habit, making them well-suited to small spaces and intensive planting. Fruit are best harvested young, usually around 6–8 inches, when the skin is still tender and the seeds are barely developed. At this stage, the flesh is mild, slightly sweet, and adaptable to just about any cooking method.
Cocozelle
Cocozelle types represent an older, less standardized expression of zucchini. Varieties like Costata Romanesco reflect this earlier form, with fruits that are typically longer and more slender than modern zucchini, often showing gentle ribbing and distinctive striping that ranges from pale green to deep forest tones.
Their shape is more variable, with a slightly tapered neck and a fuller blossom end, giving them a less uniform, more traditional appearance. Historically associated with southern Italy, cocozelle were part of the early diversification of Cucurbita pepo in Europe and are still grouped today among the broader category of cocozelle types.
One detail gardeners often notice is the large, abundant blossoms, which have long been used in Mediterranean cooking—particularly for stuffing. Like other zucchini, the fruits are best harvested young, when the flesh is firm and the flavor is at its peak.
European Types
Moving beyond Italy, other parts of Europe selected Cucurbita pepo in a slightly different direction—favoring larger fruit and a later harvest stage, especially for dishes built around stuffing.
Gary Stevens, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Vegetable Marrow
Vegetable marrows represent a broader group of Cucurbita pepo types that remain widely used across parts of Europe and the eastern Mediterranean. These fruit are typically larger than modern zucchini—often oval to elongated with a slightly swollen middle—but are still harvested immature, while the skin is tender and the seeds undeveloped.
In practice, they’re often picked a bit later than standard zucchini, when the interior has opened up enough to be hollowed. This makes them especially well-suited for stuffing, a use reflected in regional names like the Turkish dolmalık (“for stuffing”). Similar types are common in Hungary, Macedonia, and surrounding regions.
It’s worth noting that this use of “marrow” is different from varieties like Boston Marrow, which are grown to full maturity as winter squash. Vegetable marrows occupy the same general harvest window as zucchini—just pushed slightly further along for specific culinary purposes.
Mexican Types
While zucchini was refined in Europe, other forms of Cucurbita pepo continued to be selected in the Americas—often emphasizing resilience, adaptability, and everyday culinary use.
Tatume "Calabacita Bola"
Tatume represents a different expression of Cucurbita pepo—one that likely traces closer to the crop’s origins in Mexico. Instead of elongating, the fruit remains round to slightly flattened, more like a small melon than a traditional zucchini. In regional cooking, it’s often referred to as calabacita bola.
When harvested young, Tatume serves the same role as zucchini. The flesh is tender, mild, and slightly nutty, making it well-suited for sautéing, roasting, and traditional dishes like calabacitas with corn and peppers.
Rather than thinking of Tatume as a variation on zucchini, it’s more accurate to see both as parallel expressions of the same species—selected in different places for different shapes and uses. Its vining habit and strong tolerance to heat and pests further distinguish it from many modern zucchini types.
Grey "Calabacita Larga"
Often grouped under the umbrella of “grey zucchini,” these varieties are staples in Mexican cuisine and are sometimes labeled calabacita larga (“long little squash”). The fruit are typically shorter and thicker than standard zucchini, with a soft gray-green color accented by pale flecking or striping.
What sets them apart isn’t just appearance—it’s texture and flavor. Grey types are known for being especially tender, with a slightly sweeter, more delicate taste that shines in simple preparations. They’re commonly sautéed with corn, onions, and peppers or used in soups and stews where their soft texture blends beautifully with other ingredients.
In the garden, Grey zucchini are remarkably productive—often to the point of absurdity. They also perform well in warmer climates where some traditional zucchini struggle. If you’re looking for something familiar but just a little different, this is often the easiest place to branch out.
Novelty types
Not all zucchini were selected for uniformity or yield. Some began with a simple shift in form—often the result of a single mutation affecting fruit shape or color—and were then carried forward and refined for how they looked or performed in the kitchen. Over time, these small differences were amplified through selection, giving rise to types that stand apart visually but still function much like traditional zucchini.
Round Zucchini
Varieties like Ronde de Nice produce small, round fruit that are nearly uniform in shape, making them especially well-suited for stuffing. Their size allows them to be used whole, often hollowed and filled.
Despite their unusual appearance, they function much like other zucchini when harvested young, with a tender texture and mild flavor. Plants are typically compact and productive, making them a good fit for smaller gardens.
Many of these older European types also show notably good tolerance to powdery mildew, something that becomes apparent when they’re grown alongside more modern zucchini. Whether this reflects long-term selection under humid coastal conditions is an open question, but the pattern is consistent.
Golden Zucchini
Yellow zucchini are similar in form and growth habit to traditional green types but differ in pigmentation. Instead of chlorophyll, the fruit accumulate carotenoid pigments, resulting in a bright yellow to golden color.
They are typically just as productive and are used interchangeably in the kitchen, though some growers find them slightly sweeter and more tender when harvested at the same stage. Their main advantage is visual—the bright color makes them easier to spot on the vine while adding visual appeal to cooked dishes.
Zucchini Imposters
Some “zucchini” bend the rules—and others ignore them entirely. The following varieties are what I like to call zucchini imposters. They aren’t true zucchini—they’re not even in the same squash species. And one of them isn’t a squash at all.
Yet, these varieties are used like zucchini in Italian cooking. And being the ones who gave us zucchini in the first place, I suppose they’ve earned the right to stretch the definition.
Tromboncino Rampicante
Tromboncino—known in Italian as zucchetta rampicante (“climbing little squash”)—is often grouped with zucchini because of how it’s used, but botanically it’s something else entirely. It belongs to Cucurbita moschata, not C. pepo, which puts it closer to butternut squash than to true zucchini.
The plants are vigorous climbers rather than compact bushes, producing long, curved fruit that can twist and loop as they grow—especially when allowed to hang from a trellis. Most of the usable flesh is found in the long neck, while the bulbous end contains the seed cavity.
When harvested young, tromboncino behaves very much like zucchini: firm, mild, and well-suited to sautéing, grilling, and slicing. Many growers also find it less watery than typical zucchini, which can make it especially good for cooking. If left to mature, however, it transitions into a true winter squash with a hard rind and a longer storage life.
Another advantage is its notable tolerance to pests and disease, particularly squash vine borers—something that often frustrates growers of C. pepo. Combined with its climbing habit, this can make tromboncino a productive and resilient alternative to traditional zucchini in the garden.
Cucuzza Gourd
Cucuzza—sometimes called cucuzza squash, though it’s actually a gourd (Lagenaria siceraria)—is another example of how flexible the idea of “zucchini” can be in the kitchen. Long, pale green fruit hang from vigorous climbing vines, often reaching impressive lengths if left to grow.
Despite not being a squash at all, cucuzza is traditionally harvested young and used much like zucchini in Italian cooking. At this stage, the flesh is tender and mild, well-suited to sautéing, stewing, or pairing with tomatoes, garlic, and olive oil. If allowed to mature, the fruit becomes firm and fibrous, eventually drying into the hard-shelled gourds historically used for containers and utensils.
Historically, this overlap isn’t surprising. Early Italian uses of the word zucchini were not limited to squash but also referred to small gourds used in a similar way. In that context, cucuzza fits comfortably within a much older culinary tradition.
In the garden, cucuzza behaves more like tromboncino than typical zucchini—vining aggressively and benefiting from trellising. Its place here is less about botany and more about use: a reminder that “zucchini” has long been defined as much by how it’s harvested and cooked as by what it is.
Final Thoughts
If there’s one takeaway from all of this, it’s that zucchini isn’t really a single thing—it’s a category shaped by how we use it.
Across regions and cultures, growers have repeatedly selected Cucurbita pepo for the same basic purpose: tender, mild fruit harvested young and used fresh in the kitchen. Whether it’s an Italian cocozelle, a Mexican calabacita, or a round French zucchini meant for stuffing, the differences we see today are often the result of small shifts in shape, color, or growth habit—refined over time to suit local tastes.
And then there are the imposters—plants that don’t even belong to the same species, but still end up in the same dishes.
So the next time you’re flipping through a seed catalog or walking through your garden, it’s worth remembering: that familiar green squash is just one expression of a much broader, more interesting story.
Ready to get started? Check out our full selection of heirloom zucchini seeds and find your something new, maybe even a little unusual, for this year's garden.
