It seems like a long journey of discovery with my garden producing so many pumpkin and zucchini flowers.
The pumpkin flowers are very fragrant compared to the zucchini. They also have needle like hairs on the undersides, stems and leaves. This combined with the fact they are more delicate than zuchini flowers make them a challenge to harvest.
Pumpkin Flowers
The butternut squash flowers are sturdy and ruffled with the strongest scent of all.
Butternut Squash Flowers
In all the recipes, it is recommended to remove the stamen as it is said to be bitter. This is the central stalk inside the male flower and is covered with pollen.
I dutifully removed them then decided to taste one. It wasn't bitter and I didn't suffer from indigestion so I decided to cook with them to see if heat rendered them bitter. The dish, which I call zucchini stamina because of this long bountiful season and for the ingredients, was really delicious. But I don’t think the stamina (plural of stamen) added much flavour. It would be interesting to collect more and treat them like saffron.
Zucchini Stamina
2-3 zucchini cut into chunks
Good olive oil
Few sprigs lemon thyme
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
Stamina of squash blossoms, as many as you have, I added about 30
Drizzle oil into non stick pan and heat. Throw a chunk of zucchini into pan. When it starts to sizzle, throw in the rest and add freshly ground pepper. Lay the thyme sprigs on top. Don't stir; wait until the zucchini had browned a bit and releases water to flip or stir.
This will coat the thyme and prevent it from burning. Add the stamina at this time. Salt if the zucchini seem dry at this point.
Once the zuchini are well browned, you can add water and cook it off. This will diffuse the lovely caramelized flavour.
Salt and pepper to taste and serve from hot to room temperature.
