harvesting courgette flowers

[crisgal]

I am growing lots of vewggies for the first time, and my courgette plant is very happy.
I have grown one because i love courgettes, but mainly, so that I can eat the flowers.
I had them in Italy, fried in a light batter - and have longed for them ever since.
My plant has started producing some whoppers but when I looked on t'internet, it said to only take the male flowers.
I'm worried about taking any now, as i don't know how to tell them apart!
Has anyone done this successfully? I don't want to ruin my chances of getting any courgettes!

[Hawkwalk]

the male flowers have a slender stem behind them and the female ones will have the start of a small courgette behind them. The male flowers often come first but you should get both. Take a look closely behind the flowers and see if you can see a difference. If you cant then wait for some more to open as you may only have males so far.

Both are edible but if you eat the female ones you wont get any courgettes!!

[crisgal]

cheers for that, hawkwalk. x
Whereabouts would I cut them? Just take the whole flower off?
Sorry for pestering, but i'm a complete novice!

[Hawkwalk]

Just cut the stem behind the flower. If you intend to batter them or fry them you then have a stalk to hold the flower with and the stem keeps the flower intact.

Enjoy, sounds tasty!!

[Clanad]

... And, if you don't have a recipe, we've used this one for quite a while...
18 zucchini blossoms
A pint (500 ml) whole milk, or a mixture of beer and milk
3 heaping tablespoons flour
An egg, lightly beaten
Salt
Olive oil or lard, for frying
Trim the stems of the zucchini blossoms, remove the pistils, wash them gently and pat them dry just as gently.
Prepare the batter by combining the milk, flour and egg.
Heat the oil.
Lightly salt the zucchini blossoms, dredge them in the batter, fry them until golden, drain them on absorbent paper, and serve them hot.

By the way, thanks to Hawkwalk for his/her always valuable and accurate contributions...

[Hawkwalk]

Thanks Clanad, I may use that recipe myself.

[crisgal]

Thanks for a fab recipe, glad someone else likes them!
I laughed when I saw the quantities though - I'll be lucky if I have six flowers! LOL