Are you growing squash this year? I tried to get by without growing it, but I caved at the last minute, so now there are two yellow squash plants and a butternut squash in the front raised beds. When squash first begins to bloom, all of the blossoms are male. That means it won’t be producing squash until the female blossoms appear a week or so later, and THAT means that you can eat them without fear of reducing your harvest. My favorite is the yellow squash, although all squash blossoms can be eaten.
They make an excellent breakfast dish. Pick the fresh flowers and buds first thing in the morning, making sure there are no bees or bugs inside them. Rinse them quickly in cold water, then shake dry and fry them in butter over medium heat until wilted.
You can also stuff them. Stuffed squash blossom recipes range
anywhere from simple to ultra complicated (and expensive), and there are a lot of recipes on the Internet if you want to take a look. I like mine simple. I hold open the blossoms while filling them with shredded cheese, sauteed onion and just a little bit of salsa, then I bake them at around 350 until the cheese melts. It doesn’t take long (think: toasted cheese sandwich) and it makes a wonderful treat.
Of course, you can eat the female blossoms and I do, although it goes against my frugal nature. Picking the female blossoms will decrease the number of squash but the ones that do grow will be bigger. To maximize production, wait until there are enough young squash on the vine, then pinch off the rest of the blossoms and use them just like the male blossoms. An added bonus is the immature yellow squash which is part of the female blossom. Slice it thinly and cook it with the rest.
If you have a lot of blossoms, make a dinner casserole by layering them with cracker crumbs and a little butter in a buttered casserole dish. Cover with milk, as you would scalloped potatoes and bake until tender. It will take from 15 to 30 minutes, depending on how much you make.
P.S. In most places, it’s still not too late to plant an extra yellow squash! Once you’ve tried the blossoms, you might wish you had.
In Greece … when they sell the squash or zucchini/courgette – they include the blossoms which are washed, dipped in a fritter batter and deep fried in olive oil. I’ve never tried them – but they say they are quite delicious. Maybe this summer I will cook some up …
Just don’t pick all the male blossoms or you won’t have any to pollinate the female blossoms. Also, if your blossoms are typically full of ants (like mine), take a bowl or pan of water out to the garden with you and drop the blossoms into it as you pick them so you don’t bring ants inside.
This might be a dumb question but how do you know if it’s a male or female?
Female blossoms will have a swelling on the stem side of the blossom – like a baby squash. Male blossoms don’t have this.
[…] Daylilies grow from rhizomes (which can be eaten, too, by the way) in just about any soil, but they appreciate a good dose of compost each spring. They come in many colors and flavors. Some are almost evergreen and some flowers last up to three days, but most daylilies are what their name implies – a day and it’s done. That’s good, because you can eat the bud, the open flower and the spent flower, so you don’t miss anything if you can’t get to the garden every day. How to eat them? Raw, cooked, stuffed, sauteed, boiled… however you choose. (In fact, you can prepare them much like you would squash blossoms – see my article here.) […]