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market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] Squash Blossoms

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  • From: Gregory Strella <gregory.strella AT gmail.com>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Squash Blossoms
  • Date: Wed, 27 May 2009 19:41:14 -0400

I used to wake up early to pick blossoms - I even went out and bought a hiking headlamp to make it easier.  I was just reminiscing about those early morning today at 5:30pm when I picked the first blossoms for the season (it was overcast here today). 

I don't think you have to wake up early to pick blossoms.  Anytime before 10am in the summer is fine and you won't miss any quality.  In fact, they are easier to stuff after they open up a smidge.  My cucumber beetles get in there whether the blossom is shut or open, but if it is open (as it will be between sunrise and 10am) you can just dump or blow them out. 

I pick off the sepals in the field as I harvest so that I can pack them tight in clamshells for restaurants without the rigid sepals puncturing its neighbors' delicate leaves.  I stopped packing with paper towels inside, but it might help. 

The blossoms will keep for up to 5 days if you get them before the heat of the day and refrigerate within an hour of harvest in a container (clamshell or tube w/ lid) that allows them to hold moisture.  The important thing is that if your customers want to stuff them, they should work with them the day you sell them, which should be the day they are harvested.  They can still be worked with the 2nd day, with slightly less ease, but are not easily manipulated afterwards.  If you stuff/prep them the day of harvest, you can keep them for 5 days or more in their prepped state and not notice any decline in quality on your plate. 

$.33 - .50 each is a price chefs in Baltimore, MD are more than happy to pay for male blossoms, $.50 - .75 for the monster costata romanesco blossom or female blossoms.  Folks who know what they're getting will pay a $1.00 each for a nice female Costata blossom w/ the fruit attached at market but .50-.75 move better.  Female blossoms decline more quickly than males in storage and are best used within the three days, as the previous poster suggested. 

Look forward to hearing your experience,

Greg
Baltimore, MD



On Tue, May 26, 2009 at 9:54 PM, Beth Spaugh <lists AT rhomestead.com> wrote:

Pick them before the cucumber beetles get in them, just before they open, or as the tops are just opening. I read somewhere 1 a.m. is good, but I go through several times a day if I get the chance and pick ones that are ready. You can pick the females and sell with the small fruit attached, but they tend to fall off. Males have a nice stem, and you don’t give up a fruit.

 

They keep will in a ziplock or clamshell with a paper towel in the bottom, in the frig. They need to stay cold, but will last maybe 3 days that way.

 

Price – I will be interested to hear from others. I have done 10 for $5 (not sold many) and for restaurants charged a quarter each. These were nice big blossoms, from zucchini or some winter squash that have big blossoms, not from yellow summer squash which tend to be small. And Costato Romanesco makes huge blossoms.

 

Beth Spaugh

Rehoboth Homestead, Peru, NY

Farm Fresh Food Club CSA - http://rhomestead.com

Garden fresh vegetables, organically grown, and pastured chicken, duck, and geese

 

"How we eat determines, to a considerable extent, how the world is used." - Wendell Berry

 

"Without power over our food, any notion of democracy is empty." - Frances Moore Lappe


From: market-farming-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:market-farming-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of jay sleichter
Sent: Tuesday, May 26, 2009 10:45 AM
To: market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: [Market-farming] Squash Blossoms

 

I have had some people ask for these. I have seen them on food shows, but I don't know much more. I will try some this week and see what they taste like.  My questions are, when do you pick them, only male blossoms or both, how do you store them post harvest, how do you store them at market and what do you charge?  My parthenocopic squash in my hoop house don't need the male blossoms and they could be another item I could sell.  I am already picking zucchini.

Thanks,

Jay from Kansas

 


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