Flavors of Life ~ Pumpkin Blossom
Painting by Sree (Colored Pencils on Paper)
It’s rarely that a pumpkin vine grows to its prime to bear fruit in our garden. At my place, we are crazy about the pumpkin leaves (tender ones), buds, flowers and the young pumpkins. Hence any growth is literally ‘nipped in the bud’. Might sound like a heartless act of greed, but just try a pumpkin flower stir-fry or crisp deep-fry, and you will know why! However, this vine crept up beside the home inconspicuously amidst a huge rose tree (yes, the rose bush has grown into a tree beyond the first floor), and one fine day we noticed a huge pumpkin (seven Kilos!) ‘harvested’ in time for Sankranthi.:) I wish the remaining flowers, leaves and buds as much luck this year.:)
~ Sree
Previously on Flavors of Life:
Hi,
This brings memories of childhood in a town, not very far from a metro. Maa, a natural at growing plants would grow a vegatable garden and a few fruit trees. Our large terrace would be covered most of the time with pumpkin or broad beans creeper. The ‘male’ pumpkin flower (it is easy to identify them from the ‘female’) would be less lucky as unlike the ‘female’ flower, they wither away. So I would wait for Maa to pluck the male ones, every alternate day. After removing the stack , spread the petal into two halves, she would dip them in a besan (chickpea flour based dip) and make Kumro phool bhajaa (pumkin flower pakora). This is one of the many humble traditional vegetarian dishes from the kitchens of Bengal.
Comment by Dipanwita — February 27, 2008 @ 3:43 am
I tried to plant one last week at my place. Lets hope it catches root.
Comment by run 3 — December 20, 2018 @ 3:41 am