Zucchini bragging rights

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HansV
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Re: Zucchini bragging rights

Post by HansV »

Zucchini flowers are delicious battered and fried.
Best wishes,
Hans

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Re: Zucchini bragging rights

Post by GeoffW »

They make a good Mexican quesadilla - cooked with cheese which is melted into a soft tortilla. They can be stuffed or fried without batter.

To harvest the flowers, use only the male flowers, leaving one or two to pollinate. Female flowers have something round under the flower which will fruit; male flowers have just a straight stem, and there are usually more of them.

Many of the squash family have edible flowers.

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Re: Zucchini bragging rights

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PJ_in_FL wrote:
19 Aug 2020, 16:22
I think you should celebrate your success by taking a moment to sit in that nice chair, pop the top off a beer, have a few swigs, ...
... but, but, <sputter> Then I would be a slug and ... </sputter>
Cheers
Chris
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Re: Zucchini bragging rights

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kdock wrote:
21 Aug 2020, 20:59
They look beautiful, Chris! Have you been able to harvest any blossoms after your pollinators have knocked off for the day? The blossoms on my squash plants have been done in by the excessive amount of rain we've been getting this Summer. The blossom in your photo looks luscious.
Hi Kim, and I note the following references to "deep fried", but I just can't do that.
Part of my enjoyment each day lies in sitting staring at the Green-And-Gold combination and ... dreaming of "home". :laugh:

I did not realize that one could eat the squash flowers, but since I spend six months of each year staring at the blank walls, or staring outside at the blank expense of snow, I delight in the buzzing, thumping, chirping sounds and sights of outdoors as much as I can.

I have given away three zucchini so far, and if the recipients are still alive at the end of the week, I might graduate from making Radish Relish to making zucchini relish. We'll see if the sugar supply holds out.
Cheers
Chris
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Re: Zucchini bragging rights

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GeoffW wrote:
22 Aug 2020, 06:05
Female flowers have something round under the flower which will fruit; male flowers have just a straight stem, and there are usually more of them.
Hi Geoff. Let me get this straight. You want me to grope under the skirt-like green leafs and fondle the reproductive parts of the plants and then de-flower them?
Bonavista is laid back, but I'm not sure that my immediate neighbours could tolerate such risqué behaviour right now.
It's bad enough that I leave my doors wide open every day ...
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Chris
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Re: Zucchini bragging rights

Post by GeoffW »

Chris.

Nobody else but you could have taken such an innocent post and twisted it just so far - to create a post I would have been proud of if I'd thought of it first.

My excuse is that I just got the results of a Covid-19 test yesterday. Fortunately, I've avoided it.
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Re: Zucchini bragging rights

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GeoffW wrote:
22 Aug 2020, 11:15
Nobody else but you could have taken such an innocent post and twisted it just so far - to create a post I would have been proud of if I'd thought of it first.
Geoff, thank you for the compliment. And in the Scuttlebutt conference, too, not soiling the Gardening Forum.
You ought to be proud, for you stimulated (titillated?) my imagination with your suggestive post.
My excuse is that I just got the results of a Covid-19 test yesterday. Fortunately, I've avoided it.
Are you positive?

Reminds me of the old logic exercises:- "Are you still into denial" :laugh: :rofl:

Cheers
Chris
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Re: Zucchini bragging rights

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HansV wrote:
22 Aug 2020, 05:42
Zucchini flowers are delicious battered and fried.
I'd go so far as to say almost anything is delicious that way. Well, perhaps not dead cod head chunks.

Kim
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Re: Zucchini bragging rights

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kdock wrote:
22 Aug 2020, 22:08
I'd go so far as to say almost anything is delicious that way. Well, perhaps not dead cod head chunks.
Hi Kim, at first i thought that the "dead cod head chunks" must have been a British Punk group(1) from the 1970s, and was greatly encouraged by a Google Search that turned up "About 3,710,000 results (0.78 seconds) " but sadly "No results found for "dead cod head chunks"."

Still, and all, knowing that Hans reads all posts, I managed to locate this Youtube Video.
CAUTION: This video does NOT contain any fake Yorkshire-men.

While you are watching that, I'll go and change the hose on the zucchini bed.

Cheers
Chris
(1) "chunk" into "punk"
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HansV
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Re: Zucchini bragging rights

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I don't remember having seen that one, Chris. But perhaps my memory is going.
Best wishes,
Hans

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Re: Zucchini bragging rights

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HansV wrote:
23 Aug 2020, 15:56
I don't remember having seen that one, Chris. But perhaps my memory is going.
Hans, we are here to help.
Especially if you think that your memory is going.
Which Monty Python clips haven't you seen. Let's start with those ... :sneaky:
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Chris
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HansV
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Re: Zucchini bragging rights

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I'll work on a list of Monty Python clips that I haven't seen. It might take a while.
Best wishes,
Hans

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Re: Zucchini bragging rights

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HansV wrote:
23 Aug 2020, 21:57
I'll work on a list of Monty Python clips that I haven't seen. It might take a while.
If it's not done by sunrise ... (strides off, angrily)
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Re: Zucchini bragging rights

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GeoffW wrote:
22 Aug 2020, 06:05
To harvest the flowers, use only the male flowers, leaving one or two to pollinate. Female flowers have something round under the flower which will fruit; male flowers have just a straight stem, and there are usually more of them.
Hi Geoff. I have recovered from my initial shock/shame/horror and this morning grabbed a zucchini thinking to make a bit of Sweet Green Relish.
The thing weighs two and a half pounds. (Note to self: less compost next year).
After I have included vinegar, sugar, herbs and spices, etc I look like netting three pounds of sweet green relish. From just one of these babies.

The vine continues to send out new flowers beneath the elephant-ear leaves.

Question: Does each flower produce a fruit, or am I seeing fruit only from one sex of flower?

I don't particularly want to use RoundUp or any other kind of bird-killing poison, so perhaps sexual isolation might be the track to follow next spring.
Thanks
Chris
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Re: Zucchini bragging rights

Post by GeoffW »

It isn't enough that you sexualise my explanation of the difference between the flowers, now you want dirty pictures.

I'm not going to sully the lounge by embedding pictures, but rather link:
The difference between male and female zucchini flowers

You've found the eternal problem of the zucchini grower.

One solution is just to pick the zucchinis when they're smaller.

Another is to give them away to unsuspecting recipients who may or may.not appreciate them.

Or you can find recipes.
One favourite - zucchini chocolate cake
http://allrecipes.com.au/recipe/23524/b ... -cake.aspx

Zucchini crumble - it uses up quite a bit
https://www.shugarysweets.com/zucchini-crumble/

Or try quiche or lasagna.

Or get ideas from
85 Ways To Use Up All That Damn Zucchini

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Re: Zucchini bragging rights

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GeoffW wrote:
28 Aug 2020, 16:50
One solution is just to pick the zucchinis when they're smaller.
I second that - not just because you'll avoid a surfeit of them, but zucchini/courgettes become less tasty if you let them grow.
Best wishes,
Hans

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Re: Zucchini bragging rights

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GeoffW wrote:
28 Aug 2020, 16:50
I'm not going to sully the lounge by embedding pictures, but rather link:
The difference between male and female zucchini flowers
Hi Geoff, and thanks.
I went to look at your pictures but had to zoom in something awful to really appreciate them. My eyes, amongst other things, are not what they used to be, and my glasses steam up at this hour of the day from my mug of tea, I think.
Whatever, I haven't been talked to like that since the day our Physics teacher cancelled the regular Physics class and instead showed us a movie; second-year high school, I think it was. And it was rabbits, not zucchinis.

Now I see what I should have grasped a week ago, in a manner of speaking.
I think, in terms of success in annoying the neighbours, I need do nothing, really, with the flowers. The insects (we have zillions of mosquitoes because I do not mow my lawn but twice a year) will do their job, and I can always mulch the fruits at the end of the year when I get the mower out again.
You've found the eternal problem of the zucchini grower. One solution is just to pick the zucchinis when they're smaller.
I am not sure how this would work, unless I set the alarm clock for one-hour intervals throughout the night. I mean, you plant the seeds, nothing happens for two months, then one day there are plants with leaves, the next day the leaves grow to elephant-ear size and the flowers do things under the leaves and the next morning you are down Swyers Hardware checking out the sizes of new wheelbarrows.
Another is to give them away to unsuspecting recipients who may or may not appreciate them.
This has drawn us closer, in the sense that Hubert eyed my house and then told me that there was a much better house at half the price on the other side of the hill. I think he wouldn’t had done that had I not broken the ice (well, it is the end of August here) with my fruit-offering.
Linda said she would drop some off at her sister’s in Lethbridge, but I suspect that these eighty-year olds spent a few minutes with the car windows down, listening to the <splat> and giggling into the external rear-view mirrors. Kids, nowadays!
Or you can find recipes.
Good thought. I might use the web to look up “aid to third-world countries” or the like. There’s usually an organization trying to bulk up a container-load of something …
20200828_145203.jpg
I took this photo just before the afternoon rain shower. The light-green plants are Squash plants trying to escape the sordid clutches of the zucchinis. If the Squash make it to the rotting grass clippings around the trees I may have to get that lawn-mower out prematurely.

Thanks again for all your help Geoffini.
Cheers
Chris
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Re: Zucchini bragging rights

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HansV wrote:
28 Aug 2020, 17:15
...but zucchini/courgettes become less tasty if you let them grow.
Thanks, Hans, but they are mostly at 2.5 pounds already. I thought that the vinegar and sugar in the Sweet Green Relish recipe was there to counter any taste?
Cheers
Chris
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Re: Zucchini bragging rights

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GeoffW wrote:
28 Aug 2020, 16:50
One favourite - zucchini chocolate cake http://allrecipes.com.au/recipe/23524/b ... -cake.aspx
"340g grated zucchini"
Do the math, four plants each with ten 2.5 pound zucchinis ... this would cost me a month's-worth of mortgage payments in sugar and cocoa!
Zucchini crumble - it uses up quite a bit
Yes, this is good. And it would save me the effort of lugging those 5lb bags of apples home on my bike
Or get ideas from "85 Ways To Use Up All That Damn Zucchini[/url]
This might be the best yet; at least reading all 85 recipes would cut into my winter hours of reading seed catalogues, which is what got me into this mess in the first place!
Cheers
Chrios
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Re: Zucchini bragging rights

Post by GeoffW »

Wow. I see the problem.

I had one single very productive zucchini plant and it gave me all I need plus more. The year before, there were three not quite so productive plants giving a similar amount. At least you'll be able to get lots of zucchini flowers. And like the high school rabbits, you won't have any problem with them reproducing despite the culling.

Are the squashes like Australian style pumpkin?

You may well be coming back asking for squash recipes.

And if you want to know the sex of the flowers, the same thing applies. A thin stem for the male flower, a miniature fruit below the flower for the female plant.