“How many flowers there are which only serve to produce essences, which could have been made into savory dishes.”
— Charles Pierre Monselet
Edible flowers are the latest and the greatest in modern haute cuisine.
Haute Cuisine, or “high” cuisine, was a 17th-century culinary trend of luxury restaurants in France where they prepared food with very complex, meticulous techniques, and extravagant presentations of the rarest and most exotic eats like caviar and out-of-season fruits for the privileged aristocracy. The trend fell out of favor for some time but saw a revival in the 20th century that still lingers. Fawning over flowers is once again chic, cooking and garnishing with flowers is back in vogue, and the bourgeoisie pays pretty money for pretty food. Except, this fad isn’t anything new or unique.
Beauty and fragrance have always attracted the human senses and their culinary and medicinal use was just a matter of time. Flowers have been used in cooking since ancient times among the Aztecs, Mayans, Chinese, Greeks, Romans, the ottoman, as well as the Persians and include rose petals, saffron crocuses, dandelions, lilacs, pansies, squash blossoms, aka zucchini flowers.
Zucchini may have been developed in Italy in the 19th century, but the Ottomans were the first to make dolmas, and most likely, were the first to stuff zucchini flowers. These beautiful yellow and orange flowers are soft, delicate, and taste mildly like the squash itself. They could be found as a seasonal bounty of farmers’ markets and be purchased at a reasonable price to fancy up the summer hor d’oerves.
Zucchini blossoms are added to food for their flavor, aroma, or simply for aesthetics. Just be sure they are harvested early in the day and cooked the same day for the best flavor. Grilling is optimal for preserving the flower’s delicate shape and taste, which is exactly what we are about to do right after they are stuffed with Ricotta cheese and bacon, after all, we do live in the United States of Bacon. Both ingredients add unctuousness to these little flower bundles to maximize a satisfying summer appetizer.
