Courgette flowers are the orange, almost star shaped flowers from the courgette plant, known in North America and Australia as the zucchini plant. These flowers are not only one of the most beautiful vegetable flowers, but edible as well. Courgette flowers can be picked fresh from your own squash garden and made into a variety of unique eye-catching treats.
Picking Courgette Flowers
Courgette plants have male and female flowers. The male flowers grow, blossom and die, while the female flowers grow into a long squash that can be harvested and eaten. If you're planning on growing courgette for the squash as well as the flowers, be sure to only pick the male flowers. You can recognize the male flowers because they grow from a separate stem. The female flowers are attached to the main plant, and have no stem. Both male and female flowers are edible, and have a subtle flavor.
Courgette plants grow in the summer, so naturally you'll be picking their flowers in the summer as well. When you pick the flowers, be sure to pick them in the morning--as early as 5 a.m.--when the flowers have only opened slightly and the orange petals are peeking out. Remove the stamens, which taste bitter, before adding the flowers to a recipe. Courgette flowers are usually fried in a light batter and stuffed with ricotta or mozzarella cheese. Fried courgette flowers make an excellent appetizer or garnish to a main dish, especially if you're serving a traditional Italian meal. You don't need to eat a freshly picked courgette flower to admire it. A flower placed in the center of a salad is a colorful touch.
Tags: female flowers, Courgette flowers, male flowers, Courgette Flowers, Courgette plants, flowers edible
