Does any body have any recipes I am told that they are delicious
tjman,
Oct 15, 3:46am
Firstly.where to you get the flowers!I have always wanted to do this, but I too have no idea.I hope someone can help.
davidt4,
Oct 15, 4:11am
I've eaten them in Italy stuffed with buffalo mozzarella and a piece of anchovy, in a very light batter and deep fried in olive oil.The flowers don't really have much taste but they look wonderful.
I think you will have to grow your own zucchini if you want to cook with the flowers.They are extremely perishable and I've never seen them for sale in NZ.
uli,
Oct 15, 4:19am
You plant courgette plants in the garden, then after the bees have done their duties all day (in case you still have bees - they are getting quite scarce now) pollinating the male pollen onto the female flowers - you go out in the evening and pick all open male flowers and stuff and fry them for dinner. You will need approx 10 to 15 courgette plants to make that worthwhile, so you better hunt for lots of courgette recipes for the female flowers which will result in lots of courgettes of course.
245sam,
Oct 15, 4:19am
I'm not sure however I understand that sometimes (i.e. if in the right place at the right time) zucchini flowers can be found for sale at farmers markets, etc. but like davidt4, I think your best bet would be to grow your own and as Annabel Langbein says in the latest Taste mag."The first time I saw zucchini flowers in a market in Italy I thought they were tantamount to waste - there would be no zucchini to eat! But now I realise they're a useful way to prevent a midsummer zucchini glut - keep picking and the plants will keep flowering.":-))
uli,
Oct 15, 4:24am
Of course if you cannot cope with the result of 15 courgette plants - you can also harvest some of the female flowers when they are open and stuff them, then fry together with the baby courgettes that are attached.
So go and sow a packet now and you can indulge all summer.
uli,
Oct 15, 4:28am
Just shows that Annabel has no idea - even if she proclaims to be a "free range cook" LOL Of course you usually only use the male flowers - no poor Italian would harvest the females! - see my post above.
Only if you have enough females coming along to spare a few then you go and harvest some of them as well.
It pays to learn a bit about gardening and botany before spouting nonsense - which she is wont to do unfortunately quite regularly. Has put me right off her recipes and info.
245sam,
Oct 15, 4:39am
uli, the above quote accompanies a recipe of Annabel's and remember that she did say "The first time I saw.".I'm sure she would now be far more knowledgeable as she has studied for and gained a Diploma in Horticulture. :-))
kay141,
Oct 15, 6:26am
I pick some of the female flowers off my plants depending on the number and how busy the bees are. I've never stuffed then though.
uli,
Oct 15, 8:26am
I am glad that she gained a diploma in horticulture - I had students here (the polytech kept pushing them on to me) when I still had the nurseries . and I was very shocked that they had no idea what a male or female flower looked like (nor did they know that there were Monoecious and Dioecious Plants) . so not too sure if she NOW knows the difference LOL . let's hope for the best.
samanya,
Oct 15, 8:37am
Why be shocked! They were there to learn weren't they.they weren't born with the knowledge, were you!
uli,
Oct 15, 10:16pm
No - they were finished with learning - supposedly - and were trying to entice an employer to hire them permanently while doing some sort of internship/worktrial in different nurseries.
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