Cucuzza is a Sicilian squash that’s sometimes eaten young like summer squash and sometimes allowed to grow to three or four feet, when it’s eaten like winter squash. (It’s the one that looks like a green baseball bat.) Cucuzza squash blossoms are also considered a treat in Sicilian cooking.
Each female cucuzza squash blossom has to be pollinated to turn into a squash — the problem is that the blooms only last for one night. So cucuzza growers put beehives in the squash field during the season. The bees take care of the nocturnal pollination duties, and in the process, they make the treasured cucuzza miele di fiori, as the squash blossom honey is known in Italian.
So when I found four bottles of cucuzza blossom honey for sale for $5.50 each at Canino’s the other day, I couldn’t resist. The pale-colored honey has a delicate flavor that’s great for breakfast.
This article appears in Jun 25 – Jul 1, 2009.