Yes, you can eat the flowers!
Although not particularly a fan of zucchini, the bright yellow-orange flowers are a fried treat to eat. The flowers themselves are rather benign in flavor, but our favorite recipe that turns them from a why to a when are we eating more involves stuffing these buds with mozzarella that is melted to a heavenly crunch. You’ll need an apron for this one:
Ingredients:
Zucchini Flowers (males only)
Flour
Water
Garlic Powder
Dried Parsley
Black Pepper
Anchovies (Flat in Olive Oil)
Olive Oil
Depending on the total number of flowers you have collected, mix a few tablespoons of flour with water until you have a thin pancake-like batter. Then sprinkle in some garlic powder, pepper and dried parsley flakes to make your batter.
Add olive oil to a frying pan to cover the bottom completely. Grab a large dish and cover with paper towels upon which you will place your fried flowers.
Stuff you flowers and set aside on a plate. Gently open the flower and insert a small basil leaf. Then place mozzarella in the bottom of the flower. Lastly, carefully insert an anchovy strip and press the petals closed and set aside on a plate. After all the flowers are stuffed, heat up your olive oil. One by one, place each flower gently in the batter, coating it thoroughly while keeping the petals tightly shut. Then lift the flower with a fork and your hand and carefully place in the heated pan. After a few minutes – once the flower is golden brown, flip in over to crisp the other side. When ready, remove from pan and place on plate with paper towels to blot oil until ready to serve.
Hints:
Pick your flowers in the morning with deference to any bees who are merely trying to collect pollen and fertilize the female flowers. Cut only the male flowers which will have a thin stamen in the center. Unlike the female flowers that will have a swollen stem and a pistil (large interior bump) which is the ovary of the flower that develops into the actual zucchini. By afternoon, the flowers will be wilted or closed.
