The whole pumpkin plant is a treasure; grow one at home and you can eat the shoots, flowers and fruit

Recently Yatou got hooked on pumpkins. There are no fussy steps - just cut it open and steam it in a pot and it is ready to eat, with a soft, sweet taste. But when Yatou went home this weekend, she unlocked a new way to eat pumpkin: it turns out not only the pumpkin itself is edible, but the pumpkin flowers and tender shoots are edible too.

Pumpkin flowers

I remember that in an earlier article Yatou introduced to everyone how to eat pumpkin flowers. After picking them and taking them home, you can rinse them with clean water and deep-fry, stir-fry or serve them cold with dressing.

They have no special flavor, much like wild vegetables. So Yatou won't say much more about them!

Pumpkin shoots/stems

This is something Yatou needs to explain properly. Pumpkin shoots can be eaten starting from when the pumpkin sprouts! But basically during the pumpkin fruiting period, which is exactly this time of year, there are the most. Of course, this doesn't mean you can pick them randomly - picking the shoots is like pinching off the tips of flowers and plants, and it can promote growth. So what do pumpkin shoots look like?

They don't look very impressive, but they are absolutely delicious. At the tips of the branches there are tender shoots covered in white fuzz - this is the part. Starting from the tip, snap off 5-10 cm; the newly grown tender vine stems can also be eaten, so choose the most tender parts. This not only suppresses apical dominance, but also lets the pumpkins that have already flowered and set fruit grow more robustly.

After taking them home, remove the fibers, break them into small sections, and blanch them briefly in hot water - not too long - mainly to remove the oxalic acid inside.

Stir-frying is recommended; just add some red chili pepper.