Crispy Fried Zucchini Flowers

Crisp and light, and a most typically perfect Italian appetizer. And your zucchini plant is bursting with flowers! But which blossoms do you pick for frying? The male flowers do not produce fruit so they are the one's you want unless you have a great abundance of blossoms then go for some of the female flowers as well. The female stems look swollen like a small zucchini while the male ones have thin stems. Don't pick all the males  because they are needed for pollination of the females.

Ingredients:

8 zucchini flowers

2 tbsps flour

2 tbsps cornstarch

3 - 4 tbsps water

pinch of salt

1/4 cup olive oil for pan frying

Pick your zucchini blossoms just after they have closed in the morning if possible. Carefully open them and pinch out the long narrow protrusion and cut off the stems and thin green, spiky leaves on the side of the flower. A little stowaway bug might be inside too so cleaning out the middle of the flower is important. They may be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for one day.

Combine the flour, cornstarch, water and salt making a thin batter similar to pancake batter. Let it rest 30 minutes. Heat oil in a frying pan to medium high. It's ready when a drop of batter in the oil sizzles. Usually you would dip each flower individually in the batter but this is a small batch so they can all go in the bowl at once. Stir gently and fold to coat.

Fry the blossoms a few minutes then flip and fry until the batter is golden on all sides. Remove to a paper towel to absorb any excess oil then serve hot.

Serve on their own or with a marinara sauce for dipping.

You might also like Stuffed Peppers and Pumpkin Flowers:

https://hotandcoldrunningmom.blogspot.com/2016/08/stuffed-peppers-and-pumpkin-flowers.html

Follow hotandcoldrunningmom on Pinterest. You can scan the pincode seen here with your phone if you're on a desktop. If you're on a phone just screenshot it, go to the Pinterest app, click camera. Then instead of taking a pic use the option to use one of your photos. Click on the screenshot you just took and go right to my Pinterest profile where you can follow me 🙂