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Squash Blossoms


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Having finally figured out the location of New Morning's Saturday market, I intend to check it out this weekend. Do they bring the male zucchini blossoms (larger, not attached to the squash) to sell, too?

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To help celebrate the 5th Anniversary of the market, Jaleo is preparing a GIANT PAELLA at Penn Quarter on Thursday, July 12 at 5-6, though you should get there as early as possible.

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Having finally figured out the location of New Morning's Saturday market, I intend to check it out this weekend. Do they bring the male zucchini blossoms (larger, not attached to the squash) to sell, too?
NMF only sells the male version, and only at their Saturday market. Saturday's market is made up of produce from a variety of farms (all part of Tuscorora Organic Growers) and the squash blossoms come from another farm. On Sunday at Dupont all of the produce and eggs are from their farm.

I've only found female squash blossoms at Mt. Pleasant. Last year there were a couple of stands at Arlington that also had them but I haven't been there to check it out this year.

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Sunnyside has male flowers at Mount Pleasant, 14&U and Bloomingdale. Truck Patch has female flowers with the squash attached at all three markets. .

I've only found female squash blossoms at Mt. Pleasant. Last year there were a couple of stands at Arlington that also had them but I haven't been there to check it out this year.

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I hit the squash blossom jackpot last week at the Petworth Farmers Market. Three containers of 12-16 big, fluffy blossoms in each container for $10. They were so fresh that there were still bees buzzing around inside the containers. The blossoms were females, some with zucchinis already growing. The flavor was more delicate than I prefer but at that price we ate enough to make us quite happy.

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Bins of flowers are packed late before market, after blossoms close. One farmer told me that upon arrival early the next morning, someone opened up a bin to start transferring the delicate flowers into thin wooden boxes. As soon as he opened the lid, hundreds of beens swarmed out and flew high into air...

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The girls have a baby squash stuck to their butt. Boys don't. If you tear the squash off, you tear the flower, so the girls should be intact.

We've been lucky this year with an enormous, volunteer, mystery squash plant taking up the back forty and intent on doing nothing but cranking out tons of flowers. I always plan to do something other than risotto, but it is just too good.

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I picked up some blossoms at the market yesterday. I'm planning to try the traditional preparation of stuffing with ricotta (mixed with basil and maybe a little lemon zest) and then coating and frying although I'm going to try almond flour to "paleofy" them. Probably won't do many this way since I don't eat much cheese these days. I'm thinking I might just saute the rest with some olive oil and garlic scapes. Any other ideas or suggestions that don't involve grains or dairy? Simple, side dish type preparations?

Do you guys wash yours before using them?

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I do gently wash before using, and they are fantastic adds to soup, especially once pureed slightly. If you can stand soup in this heat, anyway :-)

I've also had them in egg white omelets, delicious and colorful.

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Squash blossom heads-up: there is a little chamber at the base of the blossom that should be slit open to check for various six-legged creatures. More than half of mine have been occupied.

Eek! Thanks for this, I had no idea. I've eaten them before, but this is my first time preparing them. Is this chamber still part of the stem?

Monovano, frittata was going to be my back up if I didn't use them all. I make clean out the fridge frittatas quite often.

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Please don't fry them. You lose the delicate flavor of the blossom. I know you asked for a nondairy version but my favorite way is to stuff them with a little bit of herbed goat cheese using whatever fresh herbs are around and then to bake them or slowly cook them in tomato sauce.

Leave the blossoms whole for the frittata; they are equally good in an omelet.

As for cleaning, do so using a gentle stream of water. Depending on where you are getting your blossoms you might find bees as well.

If anyone finds themselves with a plethora of blossoms in their garden before August I will be happy to take them off of your hands.

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Please don't fry them. You lose the delicate flavor of the blossom. I know you asked for a nondairy version but my favorite way is to stuff them with a little bit of herbed goat cheese using whatever fresh herbs are around and then to bake them or slowly cook them in tomato sauce.

I realized there weren't *that* many so decided to cook them all, and in light of your recommendation and some recipes I found online, I decided to stuff them all with the same mixture and bake half and fry half.

I mixed together whole milk ricotta, chopped basil, lemon zest and s&p and stuffed all of them. Half got drizzled with a really high quality olive oil and some sea salt and baked at 425 for about 10 minutes. The other half got coated in a thin batter of equal parts almond flour & seltzer and fried in walnut oil, then sprinkled with sea salt.

So fried food is delicious, but the baked ones were the HUGE winner. If I had only fried, I would have said they weren't worth the work and not bought them again. Baked I was totally enamored - I could taste all of the flavors in the filling (the lemon zest really came through) along with the actual blossom and they were delicious. The latter were very nice with an Australian sauv blanc I've been saving for something special, the fried were nice with the last glass of a bottle of rose I had open.

ETA: No insects emerged, thank god! I don't think I could have handled it in light of my current fly crisis (see the who are you drinking to thread :P)!

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In A Platter of Figs and Other Recipes, David Tanis has a recipe for a salad that is good even though both rawovores and vegans would be able to partake of the dish:

Sliver young zucchini lengthwise and toss them in a simple, lemony dressing (S, P & EVOO). Basil leaves if you'd like. Mint would be good, too, and I can't remember if there was an option of shards of parmesans if your table is r & v free. Best part is tossing the long, dressed strips of bright yellow, pale and dark green squash onto a serving dish in a big, pretty heap and then tearing fresh zucchini blossoms in large, petallike pieces to strew decoratively on top.

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hv, your suggestions sound really lovely, but let me shrink and dressed in red satin w a pointy tail, sit on cg21's other shoulder and urge her to go ahead and fry a few more. Deep-frying isn't necessary. Just a fraction of a very hot inch of neutral oil and a pair of tongs within reach to turn the flowers over. Stick an anchovy fillet into some of the blossoms before dunking them into a tempora-like batter. Fleur de sel or some other crunchy salt and a glass of crisp, dry white. Then a platter of figs wrapped in prosciutto.

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We grill ours on the griddle. Ricotta filling. Fresh mozzarella with a sliver of anchovy is also nice. We prefer to griddle them in olive oil plane to crisp up the leaves, then serve on a bed of tomato sauce, the last of last summer's bounty.

I have never tried it, but a little ground veal bound with egg shoudl work, i'd add the sliver of anchovy too. But you wold need to bind the veal with bread which is non paleo. Maybe try a small piece of roasted veal ground and mixed with some lentil & eggs?

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