CT Food

OK. Let’s give NPR some decent credit for even messing around with food on the radio. And extra credit for even touching the arcane topic of squash blossoms as they did this morning on Morning Edition.

But c’mon folks, give the good people of the wider world of real food a shot at actually eating these truly lovely and delicate flowers that look like daylilies (which you can also eat as long as you’re not drowning them in pesticides).

First of all, odds are not too shabby that you’re growing zucchini or some other summer squash. That means you can have your own squash blossoms rather than paying the absurdly high price you will likely have to pay at a farmers market or the double absurdly high price at a specialty market.

But you have to know how to pick them. Pick the male flowers – those are the ones on a thin stem. The flowers on the squash itself are the female flowers. If you pick those before the squash ripens, you’re going tp lose the squash – although you can take them off when the squash is ready to pick.

As for cooking them by stuffing, coating and frying them … where’s the blossom? All you’ll taste is the add-ons. And of course there’s all the extra fat and calories. And the time. And the cost. And …

Simplify.

Add squash blossoms, whole if they’re smallish, otherwise nicely sliced, to just about any dish. You don’t need to cook them. On hot dishes they wilt slightly. On cold dishes they mix right in. In either case they add color, their delicate flavor, and usually conversation – something along the lines of – “what are those?”

If you need the list of what they’re good on, here are a few ideas: pastas either as a garnish or as a mix-in; in or on any hot veggie like potatoes or green beans; in salads; on soups hot or cold; you could stick them on a burger or on top of burritos. A BLT with squash blossoms. Eat them in scrambled eggs. Couldn’t be easier.

You get the picture?

No need to get all involved with oil all over the place, cheese sticking to everything. The other good news is you have several weeks to sort all this out before summer squash and predecessor blossoms start to show up.