Until it was bursting from my vegetable garden this summer, I always had treated summer squash as an inexpensive filler in stir-fry or minestrone soup. I love the nutty taste and rich colors of winter squash, but have only just learned to appreciate the sweet, mild flavor and cooling effect of well-prepared summer squash.

This summer, with so much squash on my hands, I've been able to experiment. Unlike winter squash, the pale-yellow summer squash, zucchini and pattypan varieties have thin skins and taste best shortly after they've been picked.

Young squash are tastier and easier to handle than more mature ones. Larger squash have more seeds, which turn soggy while cooking. Avoid this unpleasant texture by choosing baby or small squash. Or cut out and discard the seed core of larger squash.

Salting and cooking squash with dry heat -- on the grill or in the oven, for example -- allows it to brown and maintain some dignity. While it can be a good filler in stir-fry and other wet dishes, I've learned it loses its flavor.

Summer squash's mild, almost melon-like flavor, is refreshing on its own. Add a pinch of spice or splash of lemon and it will take on that flavor in a big way.

Squash's cheery colors make for a fun display, too. Zucchini's forest green against pattypan's bright yellow looks beautiful bursting from the center of a galette.

Experiment with the many varieties of summer squash:

Crookneck and Straight Neck: Delicate, yellow-skinned squash with creamy white flesh. Crookneck, with its arching, swan-like neck, shares the mild taste of its straight-neck cousin.

Gourmet Globe: This squash shares the color of zucchini but is round enough to hollow out and use as a bowl. Look for seeds at nurseries and garden centers.

Pattypan: Not only is it fun to experiment with this spaceship-shaped squash, I've found its unusual shape and slightly sweet flesh to be appealing to children. Pattypan is widely available in pale green and bright yellow.

Sunburst: This yellow squash has a pattypan shape and a green spot where the blossom grows.

Sundrop: This creamy yellow, oval-shaped squash rarely is found in stores. Seeds for this variety are available at nurseries and garden centers.

Zucchini: Classic narrow, tender, seedy squash. The deep-green variety is easy to find in markets. It's also available with smooth, striped and speckled green or yellow skin. If you have this variety in your garden, take advantage of the flowers.