are you talking the hollow green prickly part? or the little green tendrils?

Terri: Actually, both.I shopped at the farmers market and a Mexican farmer had squash vines for soup. I bought a bunch and now am a little intimidated by my purchase. I snipped the heavy part of the vine into 1-inch pieces, snipped off the tendrils and the leaves and thought about stuffed leaves, stems in the soup and tendrils as garnish...What do you think? could I be poisoning my family and friends with any part of this?

I think you're brave. LOL

I found only this...

Here is a link that might be useful: Mexico's Greens

wow, terri, that looks like the ticket I needed. There's a lot of info and I will wander thru the site and let you know how I do, and by the way, I just tasted each part of the vine and none of it has a bad taste. In fact, the vine is rather sweet, not unlike squash itself. the leaves may be a bit bitter, although not very and I still might try to stuff them. Thanks! - M

Glad I could help M! I will be interested to hear what you come up with..however..I may not try using them myself. LOL

So here's how the experiment went: I made a soup with the heavy prickly part of the vine, cut into inch-size pieces. I used onions, carrots, garlic, veg.broth (Imagine Brand No-Chicken Broth) zuchini, fresh corn, S&P and an herb I also bought from the Mexican farmer. The herb is reminiscent of cilantro, that fresh bright taste,but sort of more so. I'm not sure of the name - something like 'Pichu' I think. It's dark green with long stems and long thin leaves. I sauted the veggies, added the broth corn kernals, herb and S&P and let it simmer for about an hour. The soup is a murky grayish-green, sort of cloudy looking. I wasn't ready to try it right away so I put it in the fridge and let it 'think' for a day. I just got up the nerve to taste it this morning and was pleasantly surprised. It is sweet and fresh tasting and I think it might just be a good served cold, although it is not so pretty to look at. Oh, and I threw the tendrils in at the last minute and cooked them into the soup. They don't help the look very much. I might decide to blend the whole thing before I serve it, or add yogurt or sour cream to give it a better look. As for the leaves, I used them as a background on the platter for the blossoms, which I stuffed with ricotta and fried. Those were wonderful, but really are just an expensive and quirky way to fry and serve cheese! Next post I'll let you know how this soup goes over with guests. Thanks again for the encouragement! - M

M~murky grayish green..sounds like a great halloween meal. LOL
I'm glad it tasted it good though.
Hmm maybe there is a way to punch the color back to green if you do puree??(I don't know the answer though.)

Well, this afternoon I served the soup to my Succah guests and it was a great success. I warmed the soup and added matzoh balls, of all things! Well, it is a Jewish holiday after all. So I made the matzoh balls in the usual way but added the Mexican herb, 'pichu' to the mix and, Tada! Mexican Matzoh Balls! Every one liked it. One guest asked if the pieces of vine were okra, that is kinda how it looked. I also served more of the cheese-stuffed and fried blossoms. (By the way, the fresh flowers kept in my fridge pretty well.) And eggplant parm; zitti; roast red and yellow beets with caraway seeds; grape tomatoes and mozzorella with balsamic vinegar. Dessert was an Apple Brown Betty, ice cream and fruit salad. It was a multicultural succah lunch and everyone went away happy and full. We have guests coming tomorrow night, Tuesday night and Wednesday we will go to someone else's succah, then we are done! (till next year!) - Thanks for the help and interest. - M

Sounds like a yummy sukkah lunch. Our dinner guests on Erev Shabbat also enjoyed our more adventurous Sukkot meal.

M, That is soooo cool it was all well received. I'll admitt I've NEVER had an all veggie meal..I wouldn't mind it at all, but hubby..he'd never make it. LOL
~I really enjoy learning about other peoples culture/religion through food..
Thanks for sharing!!!!!
T