Squash Blossom Quesadillas

Have you ever eaten squash blossoms? The thought of preparing them always seemed a little daunting to me, until a friend made some for me for a traditional Mexican quesadilla (Quesadilla de Flor de Calabazas).

They’re so easy! You just roughly chop them and sauté them with onions and garlic. The flavor is lovely, like zucchini but more delicate, and perfect in a quesadilla with cheese and corn tortillas.

Finding squash blossoms for sale is another thing. They are used in Mexican and Italian cuisine, so if you have farmers markets that cater to those populations, you’ll have more luck finding them.

Here they are very inexpensive. I bought about 30 blossoms for about $3 at our local farmers market. They are only available in the summer, when zucchini and summer squash are in season.

If you are a gardener who grows zucchini or other summer squash, you’ll have no problem sourcing them. Just pick the male flowers (the pollinators), not the female flowers that bear the squash. (Leave a few male flowers to do their pollinating work.)

You can pretty easily tell the difference between them—the male blossoms grow closer to the base of the stem and if you peek inside they have a long stamen with pollen. The female flowers are a bit more swollen at the base, which will grow into a squash if pollinated.

Do you have a favorite way of preparing squash blossoms? If so, please let us know about it in the comments. I’m always looking for new ideas.

Squash Blossom Quesadillas Recipe

Traditionally a small sprig of epazote (a Mexican herb) is placed in each quesadilla with the squash blossoms. You can also lay a strip or two of roasted poblano chile in the quesadilla.

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 5 cloves of garlic, minced
• 30 summer squash blossoms
• 1 teaspoon butter
• 12 white corn tortillas
• 8 ounces Oaxaca cheese (a Mexican string cheese) or Monterey jack cheese, sliced
• Chopped fresh cilantro for garnish

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