Do you love the idea of edible flowers? Me too, but it can be hard to know where to begin. Of course, we eat flowers all of the time. Broccoli is a floret. We eat sunflower seeds. However, when it comes to petals, they can all seem rather esoteric.
What flower petals can you eat? There are a surprising number of edible flower petals.
Borage is often considered to be a weed because it grows so profusely. However, you can moderate its growth and get some good-looking salad fixings by eating its cucumber-flavored flowers. They’re a little hairy, but they’re definitely tasty!
How about the modest dandelion? Fried dandelions taste like mushrooms when they’re fried up in butter, and they add dazzling color to dishes like dandelion fritters.
Lemon verbena is lovely in tea, while the flowers of chives taste like what you might expect – rather like onions! Or how about some pickled nasturtium buds? I haven’t tried them, but apparently they taste like capers.
One delightful flower to eat is the violet. These flowers come in many different hues, and they’re beautiful when strewn over a salad.
Apparently you can even eat squash flowers! Who knew that those large, loping flowers were good to eat, especially when placed in batter. Since my squashes never seem to come to fruition in my shady garden, perhaps I should have a squash flower crop instead?
How do you eat your flowers? Petals are lovely when used to bring color to a salad, and they look stunning in herbal vinegars. If you’re feeling terribly fancy, you can even sugar them as you would an orange peel and eat the crispy and sweet flowers.
One note of caution: always make sure that you can positively identify a plant before you eat it. Some flowers are very poisonous. If you’re not sure, don’t put it into your lunch!
If you’d like some flowers with your roots and shoots this spring, now is the time to begin planning for a fabulous and tasty flower garden.
Image Credit: [aidswarri]