Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Squash Blossoms!

Nothing says spring quite like a bag of fresh squash blossoms. When you can get your hands on beauties like these, try to eat them as close as possible to the day that they are harvested, as they wilt rather quickly.

For a long time I wondered about squash blossoms - namely why you would pick them when they would otherwise turn into zucchini. Turns out that each squash plant has both male and female flowers. You can tell the difference between the two because the male has a stamen, whereas the female has a bulge at the base of the flower which is the nascent fruit. As long as you leave enough males to do the pollinating, you can eat the rest!

You can eat all of the blossom, though the stamen is extremely bitter, and so I've always removed it. Squash blossoms are nice chopped over salads, on top of frittatas, or stuffed with ricotta and fried. John claims to like his battered with nutritional yeast, but for me, tempura batter is the way to go.

Happy experimenting, and happy spring!

- Christiana Thomas

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Community Supported Agriculture

Support Locally Grown Food

There is plenty of gozo at Rio Gozo Farm. That is JOY in Spanish and joy is one of the most dependable products we have. Gozo is commonly found in gardens and farms. Once you get a little gozo up and going it is very tolerant of most pests, withstands dry periods, and grows with a modicum of fertilizer. After gozo becomes a staple of one's diet, it goes with about anything. Actually folks crave it so much it is a wonder everyone does not have a patch of it growing close at hand. Grab up some gozo and get with the flow.