This article was republished with permission from yourhealthtube.com
Pumpkin flowers nutrition is quite impressive. No sugar, no cholesterol, but very high in essential vitamins and minerals! Just ideal for weight loss! However, pumpkin flowers are about 90% water, requiring that you consume quite a few of them in order to make a dent in your nutrition.
Are Pumpkin Flowers Good to Eat?
They are definitely edible! Pumpkin blossoms can be consumed raw in salads, steamed, cooked with other vegetables, etc. (Must try: a soup made with potatoes and pumpkin flowers is simply delicious!)
The pumpkin blossoms are a culinary treat found occasionally mixed in sautés, soups, salads, or batter-fried and cheese-stuffed. You may have the opportunity to purchase a little bundle at a farmer’s marker. So, if you do, enjoy the opportunity but plan to cook your pumpkin flowers that day, because they don’t last long in your fridge. If you are lucky enough to have squash or pumpkin in your garden (just like we are: see an image of the article), harvest the blossoms as you are ready to prepare the meal.
Pumpkin Flowers Nutrition
As we mentioned before, pumpkin flowers contain no cholesterol, no sugar, and they are very low in saturated fat and sodium. These amazing blossoms are high in calcium, iron, niacin, magnesium, riboflavin, vitamin A, Vitamin C, thiamin, potassium, and phosphorus.
1 cup (34 grams) of pumpkin flowers contains about:
- 5 calories, 0 calories from fat - total fat 0g (0% DV)
- Saturated fat 0g (0% DV)
- Monosaturated fat 0g (0% DV)
- Polyunsaturated fat 0g (0% DV)
- Cholesterol 0mg (0% DV)
- Potassium 57.09mg (2% DV)
- Protein 0.3g
- Sodium 2mg (0% DV)
- Carbohydrates 1.2 g (0% DV)
- Dietary fiber 0g (0% DV)
- Sugars 0g
- Vitamin A (13% DV)
- Vitamin C (15% DV)
- Iron (1% DV)
- Calcium (1 % DV)
*DV- daily value
Pumpkin blossoms do have a great source of food folate, making pregnancy a brilliant excuse to eat an abundance of cooked pumpkin flowers.
In 3 cups of pumpkin blossoms, you will get about 5% of your recommended intake of potassium, magnesium, iron, and calcium.
Female Vs. Male Pumpkin Flowers
You will usually find male pumpkin blossoms for sale in the marketplace, looking like a bouquet of flowers. Male pumpkin flowers are fairly easy to distinguish from their female mate in a garden context: The female pumpkin flowers are sitting at the end of a pumpkin. The male pumpkin flowers, oppositely, working hard as pollinator flowers, have long stems and no they growing on or inside the stems. Therefore, if you are picking male pumpkin flowers from your garden, make sure to leave some on the plants so that they could do their jobs like pollinators.
Pumpkin Flower Sauce (Ricetta Salsa ai Fiori di Zucca)
I remember last summer in Illasi (a comune in the Province of Verona) in the casa di mia nonna Angela: It was early in the morning and the pumpkin plants looked wonderful with their big orange-yellow blossoms, they looked so inviting to the bees....and to me! So, I’ve decided to surprise the family with a healthy pumpkin blossom meal that day…I’ve opened the cookbook and there it was: Salsa ai fiori di zucca!
So, today my sharing the recipe with you:
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Course: First Courses
Servings: 4
Ingredients:
40 Pumpkin blossoms
1 egg yolk
30 grams of grated Parmesan cheese
3 tablespoons fresh cream (panna fresca)
20 grams of butter
Some chopped parsley
Salt
Pepper
Preparation:
Wash and dry the pumpkin flowers. Next, chop them. In a saucepan melt the butter, then place the chopped pumpkin flowers, add some salt and pepper and cook for a few minutes. Remove from the pan. Mix the egg yolk with the cream and then add it to the pan. Mix all together again. Season with chopped parsley and grated parmesan cheese. Dip some with bruschetta, or spread it over pasta. Enjoy!
Buon Appetito!
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References: Cucchiaio.it Traditional-foods.com Caloriecount.com