My digital friend Jan from JW Blooms put me on to Anchusa Azurea as an edible flower. I confess to had having little knowledge of the critter. Now the scales have fallen from my eyes! What a beauty….there aren’t that many natural blue foodstuffs (I love the word foodstuff…it sounds so wrong) but Anchusa is certainly one…a really zingy, blow your eyes out blue.
It’s a biannual or more accurately a short lived perennial and if I’m not mistaken it’s a member of the same family as our friend Borage.
Both Sarah Raven and Carol Klein rave on about Anchusa but with Sarah saying they make great cut flowers and Carol saying they should NEVER be used as cut flowers. …hummm…thanks for clearing that up girls…
My research tells me that they don’t really taste of anything…but will obviously brighten up any dish they come into contact with. I would hazard a guess they would look super groovy fabulous in a salad with Calendula…and with a drizzle (Thx Jamie) of Chive Flower salad dressing…(Tomorrow I will let you in on that one)
Please note…do not stuff your face with flowers….ease them into your diet slowly…allergies are not uncommon.
Kindest regards
Ben
Other posts on Edible Flowers…
May 3, 2011 @ 10:11 pm
I do cut them, but I can see why Carol might think they wouldn’t make a good cut flower. They are a bit prickly, so not really any good for hand-ties, and often look a bit manky and droopy at first, but bring them in, sear the ends, chuck the petals that have dropped on the table in your salad or your confetti jar, wait a few hours then marvel at their beauty. Oh, and you need stonking great stakes to keep them upright as they tend to spread all over the garden. Worth the effort, though, for the colour alone. Jx
May 4, 2011 @ 4:10 am
I understand they are related to Alconites…which are pretty much a weed in these parts. Did you grow yours from seed?
May 4, 2011 @ 11:59 am
Yeah, I think so originally. Spend a lot of time digging them up mostly now! J