Make courgette flower fritters

When and how to harvest courgette flowers?

Courgette, Cucurbita pepo ssp. pepo, is a vegetable from the gourd family, which produces large flowers in a yellow-orange colour, perfectly edible, and suitable for many culinary recipes.

When to harvest courgette flowers?

A courgette plant generally flowers a lot from April to May, and this until October. However, this period may vary depending on the regions and their climate.

Avoid harvesting courgette flowers in the morning when they are open. It is better to pick them in the afternoon or evening, to leave them available for bees and other pollinators in the early hours of the day (the most favourable time for their pollination).

Are all courgette flowers edible?

The courgette is a monoecious plant that produces male and female flowers on the same plant. Know that they are all edible, regardless of their sex.

However, it is recommended to only pick male flowers for your fritters, to avoid harming the production of vegetables. Once fertilised, it is indeed the female flowers that produce the fruits of the courgette.

It goes without saying that you should not pick all the male flowers at once, as the presence of some of them is necessary to pollinate the female subjects.

Good to know: a single male flower produces enough pollen to fertilise a large number of female flowers.

Distinguishing male flowers from female flowers is child’s play that simply requires a bit of observation:

• to start, male subjects are located at the end of long stems, while female subjects are found on short swollen stems, the precursors of the vegetable to come.
• next, the pistil of the female flower has between 3 and 5 appendages fused at the base, sufficiently movable to allow pollination, while the centre of the male flowers shows an elongated stamen that is abundantly covered in pollen when they are fertilised.

Female courgette flower on the left of the photo and male courgette flower on the right.

How to remove the stamens and pistil from courgette flowers?

Upon reading various recipes for courgette flower fritters, you may have noticed that they always recommend removing the stamen before any other preparation. However, as we have seen, it is the male flowers that are most often harvested. Therefore, you will need to remove, not the stamen, but the pistil.

Indeed, stamen and pistil can impart a bitter taste to your culinary preparations. To remove them, simply pull gently, taking care not to damage the petals.

How long do courgette flowers last?

Unfortunately, the courgette flower is extremely fragile and wilts within a few hours after being harvested. It can, at best, be stored for 1 or 2 days in the vegetable drawer of the refrigerator.

Note that, on the other hand, courgette flowers freeze well. To do this, place parchment paper inside the flower, so that its petals do not stick together. However, be careful, as the flower is particularly fragile and may break upon thawing.

It is therefore, in all cases, recommended to prepare them quickly after picking.

The easy recipe for courgette flower fritters

The recipe for courgette flower fritters originates from Provence, although it is also found in Italy and the Balkans.

Courgette flower fritters served with pan-fried tuna with sweet ginger, soy sauce, and wasabi © Taz – Flickr

Ingredients

• 15 fresh courgette flowers
• 100 g of flour
• 200 ml of milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• Frying oil
• Salt

Preparation

1. Start by separating the egg whites from the yolks, and set the whites aside in the fridge (this will make them firmer).
2. In a mixing bowl, prepare the batter by gradually mixing the flour and milk, then add the egg yolks, a pinch of salt, and your tablespoon of olive oil. Whisk until you obtain a smooth and homogeneous batter.
3. Whip the egg whites until stiff with another pinch of salt, and gently fold them into your batter.
4. Prepare your courgette flowers by cleaning them and removing their stamens and pistils.
5. Then dip each flower one by one into the batter.

Courgette flowers dipped in tempura batter @ Ben Chun – Flickr

6. Two options are available to you:
   1. cover the bottom of a frying pan with frying oil and heat it to brown your courgette flower fritters for 2 to 3 minutes on each side,
   2. or cook them in a deep fryer, also for 2 to 3 minutes.

Fried courgette flowers @ Ben Chun – Flickr

7. Remove the fritters from the oil and let them drain.
8. Serve and enjoy them while still hot.

Enjoy your meal!