The Most Surprising Thing Jeff Mauro Found In A Kitchen Crash Fridge - Exclusive

If you knocked on Jeff Mauro's door in Chicago as a contestant during "Kitchen Crash," you wouldn't be heartbroken with your haul. As long as you're okay with cooking with "a lot of mustards" and "perfectly portioned and vacuum-sealed" meats, you'd probably do just fine. Also, giardiniera — you could count on jars and jars of giardiniera. 

But during an exclusive interview with Mashed, Mauro warned us only to stop by at the beginning of the week, when all the "fresh goodies" are still there. "Friday's like pizza night, or go out to dinner night. Saturday's out with a friend." As for the absolute worst day to show up at Mauro's front door: "God forbid Sunday morning," Mauro warned Mashed. "Wake me up? I wouldn't be happy."

If you're a fan of "Kitchen Crash," you're familiar with contestants' frantic 10-minute scramble to find a house that wants to play along — and to raid their kitchens for every single ingredient they might possibly need to survive three rounds of the competition. You can be sure that "Kitchen Crash" host Jeff Mauro has seen it all. "The peppers from Jamaica that were grounded perfect ... homemade tomato sauce that was jarred last winter ... the barbecue rub that [that guy's] been making for 10 years, that just happens to be in the pantry," Mauro reflected. "It's those moments that make it truly relatable and fantastic."  

What's the single most surprising thing that the Food Network star has found in a "Kitchen Crash" fridge? 

In an exclusive interview with Mashed, Jeff Mauro revealed that it was the ingredient in a New Jersey fridge that surprised him the most. Get your head out of the gutter. We're not talking about an episode of "Jersey Shore" or "The Real Housewives of New Jersey." The item that left the "Kitchen Crash" host stupefied is almost shockingly wholesome. "It was by far the largest zucchini I've ever seen in my life," Mauro revealed. "I mean, it didn't even look like a vegetable, and it was grown in their backyard." Mauro had a hard time wrapping his head around the size of the vegetable, even when describing it. "I'm like, 'First of all, it's going to take you a couple of days just to fabricate this thing, and it's going to be full of a ton of water.' But I mean, I was shocked at the ... I'm like, 'What are you guys fertilizing with here in Jersey?'"

We'd wager a bet on what Mauro would have used the giant zucchini to cook up. The Sandwich King makes a mean ratatouille sandwich, or so we're told (via Food Network). 

If you want to know what the contestants did with larger-than-life vegetable, tune into "Kitchen Crash." New episodes of the show air Wednesdays on Food Network.