Beautiful Courgette Flower

Courgettes (or Zucchini as some will have it) get a bad press. They are stupidly easy to grow, produce large, sometimes overpowering, plants and pump out produce until we are so sick of eating them that we need help coming up with new ways to eat them. Of course then there is the curse of the marrow. Go away for a few days and when you return you find that your lovely, dainty little courgette has turned into Shrek’s baseball bat. Yes Courgettes get a bad press – even at mtp – but today, for one day only, all that has changed. Why? because they officially have the most beautiful flowers of all the vegetables.

I love the way that the green blends into the yellow here – is it a leaf or a petal – I like to think it’s both.

Inside, the petal-leaves protect this delicate, furry mini-flower which looks like it’s spent a lot of time getting ready for a hot date with Mr Male Courgette Flower.

And last of all – the colour! Was there ever a yellow as intense as this that didn’t say, ‘Summer is here!’.

Category: Chit-chat, Vegetables     Tagged:

9 Comments on “Beautiful Courgette Flower”

  2. My favourite way with both green and yellow courgettes is to pick really early and cut into small pieces and eat raw in salad, they are just beautiful.

  3. HI,

    LOve your blog! I am development producer for Keo Films which produces The River Cottage. I’d love to have a quick chat about what you do when you get a mo- could you possibly email me so we can get in touch?

    Nicola

  4. Great blog – why did it take me so long to discover it? I have a plot in Birmingham and can’t match your photography but am beginning to write more about my growing as well as other life stuff.

    Cheers,

    Dave

  5. given the river cottage interest above (cor!), it’s worth saying that hugh F-W’s first book has some super courgette recipes – a pasta sauce that has become a staple in my household and a rather swanky courgette souffle

  6. Hi Nicola – I’d love to drop you a line. Can you let me know your e-mail address. Or just mail me from the About page.

  7. Hi,
    nice blog and wonderful pictures!
    I hated zucchini when I was a kid, my father boiled them and they were horrible to eat… but then I learned how to cook them and now I love zucchini season!

  8. Here in Corsica the courgette season is the time to make fritters with the flowers. Choose the male flowers, i.e. the ones which do not have a courgette forming, stuff a basil leaf inside each one and dunk them in a batter of flour, baking powder (or use self-raising flower if that still exists in the UK), egg, milk, salt/pepper and deep fry. Serve with home-made tomato sauce. The rest of the batter can be used up by grating courgettes, adding mint and garlic and frying small pancakes of the mixture.
    Not ideal if you’re on a diet, needless to say.

  9. Hi,

    Courgettes are great in stir frys, just drop them in a minute or so before your done, along with peppers and then they don’t go soggy.

    They are great on bbq’s. They go well in rice dishes (like a fried rice with a mix of veg in).

    I also do a pasta dish with chicken, courgette, mushrooms & onions and a creamy sauce, mmmmmm!