Many edible flowers grow in my garden, including chamomile to dry for tea, colorful calendula and spicy nasturtium for salad garnish and tiny cucumber-flavored borage. The largest flowers come off squash plants.
Squash plants are so prolific that eating their flowers won’t limit production, especially if you mainly harvest male blooms. Each plant has more of these than female flowers and more than needed for successful pollination. Male flowers grow on long, thin stems, and pollen-coated stamens poke up in the blossoms’ center. Squash flowers fade quickly, so harvest the day you will use them, ideally after morning dew has evaporated but before the tips close and twist in the day’s heat.
Cut off the biggest squash blossoms for stuffing and frying. Zucchini and other summer squash usually have slightly smaller flowers than pumpkins and winter squash but may still be stuffable. All taste like a mild version of the vegetable, ideal for simple batter and fillings that still let you taste the blooms.
The Lime-Chili Sauce I use for summer rolls pairs so well with stuffed squash blossoms that I often prepare rolls and blossoms for a full meal. Stuffed blossoms are also delicious dipped into homemade Caesar salad dressing or infused vinegar diluted with water or vegetable stock.
Stuffed Squash Blossoms
Makes 16 blossoms
16 large squash flowers
1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 egg
Pinch of sea salt
4 teaspoons milk
Sunflower or other high-smoking point oil for cooking
4 ounces mozzarella, diced
4 ounces cherry tomatoes, diced
2 tablespoons capers or chopped Kalamata olives
1 tablespoon thinly sliced basil or green onion tops
Cut the stem off each blossom where it meets the flower and then gently reach inside and pull out the bitter stamen, pinching between thumbnail and index finger to break it off near its base; set the flowers aside. In a shallow bowl, mix the flour, eggs and salt with a small whisk or fork until smooth. Beat in the milk until a thick batter forms; set aside.
In a small bowl, mix the cheese, tomatoes, capers and basil. Holding a blossom in one cupped hand, gently fold back the petal ends with the other hand; slide a heaping tablespoon of filling inside. Gently fold the petal ends back up, enclosing the filling. Set the filled flower on its side on a large plate and continue filling the remaining blossoms.
In a large, heavy skillet, heat about 1/4 inch of oil over medium-high until shimmering hot. Dip a stuffed blossom into the batter, let the excess run off and then lay the flower in the pan; repeat until the pan is full. Fry the blossoms for three to four minutes, until light gold on the underside, and then flip and fry another three to four minutes on the opposite side.
Use a spatula to transfer the fried flowers to a paper towel-covered plate to drain. Continue cooking in batches, heating more oil as needed. Serve immediately, with a dipping sauce if desired.
Julie Laing is a Bigfork-based cookbook author and food blogger at TwiceAsTasty.com.