fried zuccini flowers??

not true. For about three weeks you get only male flowers, which you can fry with abandon, tempura-style. They are the best. Later you will get both males and females - the latter having an enlarged stem (the future zucchini). At that point you have to leave a few males around or else no pollination will happen and the zucchini will abort.

My grandmother used to make a batter of eggs, milk and flour and deep fry them hot and serve them. My uncles and father could eat as many as she could cook. She grew zooks just for the flowers.

Absolutely. 2 Zuchs would serve my family well-- but I plant 6 just for the blossoms.

A little batter & being deep fried makes a meal of a dozen/person. Stuff them with mozzarella & basil & 4-6 will fill you up.

I only eat the male flowers. [the females have the tiny Zuch's on them]. If they all look the same, which they usually do in the beginning, then they are all males.

Pick in the early AM before the bees get on them. Leave a 'tail' of about 4 inches of stem. I use a simple batter of 1 cu. flour, salt, pepper, 1 Tbl olive oil & water enough to make a runny batter.

Jim

The message from snipped-for-privacy@aol.com (Surfgeotwo) contains these words:

I've never bothered eating the flowers myself, but years ago I used to grow them for a commercial supplier to the hotel and restaurant specialty trade. She could never get enough of them.

Janet.

Are you deep frying them? What temperature is the oil? Frying pan isn't working out for me. Thank you in advance for reply. :)

Yes- sort of. Probably an inch or 2 of oil in my heavy frying pan. I do end up turning them. Never tried the bona fide deep-fryer to see if they'd need turning there.

Very hot? Sorry-- I do it by feel, but sometimes I'll drop a pea sized drop of batter in & if it sizzles when it hits & browns within a minute of so, then the oil is hot.

Keep trying-- the end result is worth it.

Jim

You eat the male flowers first of all, the ones without the swelling at the base of the flowers.

And it's worth it if you like the batter you fry them in. Fried squash blossoms have been around for ages. You can eat the day lily buds too I think the same way, battered and deep fried. Check on that or someone will scream if I'm wrong. ;-)

Janice

I did this one year...you have to pick the flowers early in the morning, while they're still open. Shake out them out (to remove any bugs), then dip them in a better and pan or deep fry them. Dust with powdered sugar and serve. Delicious!

Karen

I've heard in Italy and other places they take a small slice of Mozzarella cheese and put inside the flower, before battering and deep frying. I have to try that this year. I have planted five different kinds of squash.

Does anyone know which flowers are edible or if all are? I have planted Yellow and Zucchini which I know are edible, but I also have Patty Pan (Scallop); Acorn and another winter squash called Orange Sunshine or something like that, it looks like a miniature pumpkin.

-- Rita Garland, TX