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Are Squash Blossoms Edible and Safe to Eat?

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Squash blossoms picked fresh from the garden.

Squash blossoms picked fresh from the garden.

Today in the garden there were many yellow-orange squash blossoms, which prompted a few questions and I want to share my results with you.

Are squash flowers edible?  Are the blossoms safe to eat?

Yes, the blossoms from any summer squash or winter squash are edible.  I confirmed this today by eating blossoms from a yellow squash (the variety called Dixie Hybrid) and blossoms from zucchini (the variety called Black Beauty).  They tasted great, I feel good after eating them, and I will eat them again!

container_of_squash_blossoms_flowers

2 ounces of squash blossoms

I like to eat a variety of foods for optimum nutrition.  These flowers required no money since I grew them myself.  Free food!

Frying squash blossoms in a cast iron skillet.

Frying squash blossoms in a cast iron skillet.

How do you cook squash blossoms?  I’ll share a recipe that I used today with excellent results.

Clean Blossoms

Preparing the blossoms.

Preparing the blossoms.

Cut the stem off the end of the flower.  If you have a male flower, the stamen should come loose.  The stamen is the part shown that looks like an orange mushroom.  Many websites say to discard the stamen, but I do not know why.  If you know, please tell me why this is discarded.

These are the scraps:  stems and stamens, which go to the compost pile.

These are the scraps: stems and stamens, which go to the compost pile.

Batter and Fry

Batter

Batter

I used one egg, whisked.  Put some whole wheat flour in a plastic container.  Dipped each blossom, first into the egg, then into the flour, then placed on heated cast iron skillet with olive oil and sea salt.  Cooked about 40 seconds on each side.

Squash blossoms frying in olive oil.

Squash blossoms frying in olive oil.

How Do They Taste?

Great!  My wife tried one and said they taste like eggs.  I was surprised there wasn’t more flavor, but they were satisfying, like eggs.  It tasted like fried yellow squash to me.  I was pleasantly surprised by the thickness of the cooked blossom as it had more substance than I expected and filled me up.  This has to be due to the egg and wheat flour.  It was a small meal by itself.  I’m looking forward to eating these again.

Other Ideas

I would like to try more variations:

  • Cook again with added garlic for more flavor.
  • Use squash blossoms as a pizza topping.
  • Add to scrambled eggs for added nutrition.
  • Eat the blossoms raw.  Done.  They don’t have much flavor… almost tasteless, but they are definitely edible.

If I try these variations, I’ll try to add an update here on ElPerfecto.com.  Subscribe to the RSS feed if you want to see more.


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