Squash blossom bliss

The flower — all beauty, promise and wile — makes for an unlikely meal. To pluck, stuff and fry it seems savage. Though, in truth, no more brutal than the rest of dinner prep.

The nasturtium spikes the salad with brilliant color and radish-hot bite. The rose petal, starched with sugar, gives pastry a sweet snap. Lavender warms shortbread sunny.

The squash blossom, soft and capacious, grows like a dumplingon-the-vine — ready to fill and fold. Plumped with ricotta, batterdipped and crisped, it makes for a crunchy, creamy bite. One best downed with neither sauce nor sentimentality. The abundant, prickly vine is busy unfurling more flowers.