Too many courgettes? 12 things to do with a courgette glut

1. Pick them small

Courgettes are at their best at 10 to 15 cm. Small ones taste better, cook faster and are much easier to give away. Check the plants every day or two in midsummer: a courgette you miss can swell to marrow size in under a week.

2. Grate and freeze them

This is the most useful way to freeze courgettes. Grate them, squeeze out as much water as you can in a clean tea towel, and freeze in portions. Use them in soups, sauces, cakes and fritters through the winter.

3. Freeze slices for cooking

Cut into thick slices, blanch in boiling water for one minute, cool quickly in cold water, dry and open-freeze on a tray. They go soft when thawed, so add them to stews, curries and pasta sauces rather than salads.

4. Make soup

Soften an onion and garlic, add chopped courgettes and stock, simmer and blend. Add peas, basil or a little cheese. Courgette soup freezes well and uses a lot at once, including overgrown ones.

5. Bake a courgette cake

Grated courgette keeps cakes and muffins moist, much like carrot. Chocolate courgette cake and lemon courgette loaf are popular ways to use them, and nobody spots the vegetable.

6. Fry fritters

Mix grated, squeezed courgette with egg, flour, feta and herbs, then shallow-fry spoonfuls. Quick, cheap, and good hot or cold.

7. Eat them raw

Shave small courgettes into ribbons with a peeler and dress them with lemon, olive oil, mint and salt. This only works with young, firm ones.

8. Stuff the flowers

Picking flowers also slows the glut. Fill them with soft cheese and herbs, then fry them in a light batter. Pick the male flowers (on thin stalks, with no baby courgette behind them) and leave enough for pollination.

9. Pickle them, or make chutney

Courgette pickles and chutneys keep for months. Use a tested recipe and sterilised jars. They're for you and as gifts: preserves are processed food, which has extra rules, so Leaf Exchange doesn't list them.

10. Let one or two become marrows

If you want fewer courgettes, leave one fruit to grow on, and the plant slows down. A marrow with a hardened skin keeps for several weeks somewhere cool and dry, and marrows are on the countable list, so you can sell one each at a set price.

11. Share, swap or sell them locally

Every courgette grower gluts at the same time, but plenty of people nearby don't grow them at all. The trick is reaching them within a day or two of picking, while the courgettes are still firm. On Leaf Exchange, courgettes are listed as:

• A bagful for free, as a swap, or pay what you think. Courgettes aren't on our each list, and a bag can't have a set price without trade scales.
• A big box over 5 kg at a set price, which suits someone making soup or chutney in bulk.
• Swap only, for whatever you're short of: apples, herbs or tomatoes.

Add a photo, say when you picked them, and mention the size. Neighbours reserve, then collect from you in person.

List your surplus

12. Donate them, and plan next year

Food banks, community fridges and food hubs often take fresh veg. Check first what they can accept. In Buckinghamshire, Grow to Give collects surplus from growers.

For next year, remember that one healthy plant picked often can give 15 to 20 courgettes or more over a summer. One or two plants usually feed a household. If you love them, sow a second batch a month later instead of more plants at once, so the crop is spread out.

How long courgettes keep

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