Memories of zucchini blossoms

My daughter really likes to cook and try new dishes. She’s always browsing for recipes. I suggested in the spring she find some recipes for zucchini. This slender green squash is apparently prolific, and I planted several in my garden. We would have an absolute glut.

I may have been a tad optimistic. 

Cucumber striped beetles killed my zucchini plants.

Gardening lesson number 1 for me. Truthfully the cabbage worms in my kale were lesson number 1. It’s a multifaceted lesson: many critters can wreak havoc on a garden and they specialize. These pests are the policy equivalent of subject matter experts. They zoom in, laser focused, on their area of expertise and have at it with abandon. You can’t stop them. They know their stuff. Darn it.

At least I know what to look for next time.

This sinister yellow and black striped beetle, merely 5 mm long, attacks cucurbits. This is the family of squash, cucumber and melons. (Oh yah, I lost my cucumbers too). They have beady eyes. I imagine. I didn’t spend time looking into their eyes, but rather capturing them before they took flight (oh yah, they fly) and swiftly squashing them between my thumb and forefinger. Acalymma vittatum. I wish this was the wizard spell that would turn them into butterflies, but it’s just the Latin name.

Before this tiny beetle inflicted massive damage, I harvested many tender zucchinis that found their way into pasta dishes and onto the grill. I have discovered however, the real star of this plant is the delicate blossom. It’s quite a delicacy. The male blossom is found on a long slender stem as opposed to the female part which has a zucchini attached. In the blossom photo below, the male is on the left (with a single stamen that is covered in pollen) and the female on the right (if you look closely there is a small zucchini forming at the base of the blossom).

To be greeted in the morning with these bright orange blooms was a delight. 

While it lasted.

I also learned the blossoms need to be harvested the day they bloom. In the morning. More precisely, early morning before the sun closes the delicate blooms into a soft curl. To get the most out of these tangerine beauties, they need to be eaten that same day. Or the bloom falls right off the stem. Plop. It’s a live-in-the-moment kinda veg.

And oh so photogenic. 

The blossoms have a mellow floral flavour with a hint of zucchini (which is subtle in itself). I tore them into salads. Adorned zucchini pasta. Even fried up a bunch, Italian style, in a light batter.

At one point, there were more than I knew what to do with. A flood of blossoms! It was the abundance I was anticipating in my zucchini harvest.

Fun while it lasted.