Are squash leaves edible?

[prairiegardens]

Anyone ever eat squash leaves? I've read that like stinging nettle the bristley bits dissolve when cooked but  can find no information about if it matters what family of squash or what to do with the leaves other than something to do with coconut milk.  Or if they are edible but that's about the best you can say about them. 

One site specifically says that winter squash leaves are edible.?!

It just seems odd that I never ran across them in Mexico if so. You'd think they'd have used them all over the place, lots easier to wrap things in a big leaf than in a corn husk, e.g.

Ive got a magnificent volunteer plant that is just blooming now, won't have time to make/ripen fruit. A pepo of some sort, rose out of a sort of wanna be hugelculture bed that's basically been a deposit of all the garden trash and trimmings from both me and my neighbor, far from anything on the most needy of my land. No idea what it might be. I've even thought about trying to cover it against early frosts just to see what if anything it produces, but it's fairly inconvenient to get to. 

[keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.)]

no idea, but i figure if Grape vine leaves are then squash leaves probably are. I think Grape vine leaves are sometimes used in a tamale type mexican thing??

All i know is Grape vine leaves make crunchy pickles!!

[zeedman]

Never eaten fully grown squash leaves; but I enjoy the young vine tips, especially when they are loaded with flower buds. They are the last thing I harvest in the Fall, just before cold weather. IMO the larger leaves would be too tough, and I don't think the spines would cook away.

[prairiegardens]

What do you do with them?

[Ecophreek]

jenniferskitchen.com/2017/05/can-you-eat-squash-leaves.html

[steev]

Very interesting; I do like my greens, generally cooking them much like that; leftovers are good cold as sandwich filling.

[keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.)]

permies.com/t/42183/Specific-varieties-zucchini-resistance-mildew

[walnuttr]

" but I enjoy the young vine tips, especially"
Same again here; mature leaf is like eating rasps. Three or four shoots per serving, steamed or shallow-boiled. The mini-fruit take a bit longer;
Similar level of flavour to whole young broad-beans before they go stringy.

[Al]

Squash leaves are much eaten in Africa apparently, you can eat sweet potato leaves too it seems. Whether you'd want to to is another matter. gardenandgun.com/articles/whats-in-season-sweet-potato-greens/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=socialmedia&utm_campaign=october2017_twitter

[prairiegardens]

I frequently eat sweet potato leaves and tips; they're a super easy fresh green in the winter. Usually chop them up and toss them into scrambled eggs or some such. But sweet potato leaves aren't fuzzy.

[steev]

Sweet potato leaves in scrambled eggs; sounds promising.

[Joseph Lofthouse]

I ate a few meals of steamed sweet potato leaves this summer. They were a good green to me. The petioles were a bit fibrous for my liking, but not too fibrous that I'd go to the effort to remove them. There was a fair bit of difference between the leaves from different strains.

[Joseph Lofthouse]

Aug 26, 2017 9:04:19 GMT -5 prairiegardens said:

Anyone ever eat squash leaves? I've read that like stinging nettle the bristley bits dissolve when cooked

I suspect that I'm a super-taster. Because when I eat nettles, the hairs have definitely not dissolved with cooking.

[steev]

I don't know how that would have anything to do with taste; texture, maybe.

[Joseph Lofthouse]

Peach skins, nettles, green beans. And I presume squash leaves.... Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh! ptewwwweeeee.