I was chatting away to my mate Grant and his delightful better half this morning, when he suggested I offer the edible flowers in my crops to restaurants. This had never crossed my tiny mind before…over the next week or so I shall be exploring a few avenues and shall keep you informed. {Yes I know…you’re all on the edge of your seats…enough sarcasm…pay attention}
One thing I have gleaned is that flowers actually contain loads more minerals than green leaves. In the olden days…before even TV or the Moon had been invented, the farmers of the day used to delight in feeding their livestock wildflowers. The reason for this is…{Be ready to be impressed with my knowledge} is that lots of common Wildflowers have long tap roots and consequently are able to take up minerals and other goodies from the soil beyond the depth of grasses. This is why Ermintrude from the Magic Roundabout always has a flower in her mouth…um…maybe.
Right now one can go outside and gorge on any of the Polyanthus family…go on…chop chop…thats Primroses and Primulas…all good eating. Then a little later in the season you can enjoy stuffing English Marigolds down yer cake hole, washed down by a juicy bit of Borage.
Later still we have the delights of Courgette flowers, go for the male flowers or your corgettes won’t ‘corgette’…you can just shred these yellow stars over your favorite pasta…or indeed over pasta that is rubbish.
Don’t forget your runner bean flowers…Sarah Raven says they taste ‘beany’…thanks for that Sarah…glad to see Chief Inspector Raven has cracked another case…
Then last of all we get the majestic nasturtiums…what a winner…if I’m not mistaken you can eat the young leaves too…but watch out for catapillars.
What other flowers can you eat? Please let us know.
Regards
Ben
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Edible Flowers, Borage | Higgledy Garden
April 30, 2011 @ 9:47 pm
[…] Garden Site will know, we have taken it upon ourselves to dedicate one of our gardens entirely to edible flowers. We have done this purely to make ourselves look like hunter gatherer types in the eyes of ladies […]
March 5, 2011 @ 4:47 pm
Anchusa – fabulous bright blue – and heartsease violas, I think. (Please don’t eat any of these on my word alone.) x
March 5, 2011 @ 6:13 pm
…it could be a trap to kill off the competition…hummmm…we’ll get Bergerac on to you…
March 7, 2011 @ 11:19 am
Damn – foiled!
March 4, 2011 @ 1:29 pm
I like the tubular flowers of pineapple and peach sage in iced tea, as well as flowers from bee balm and anise hyssop. I agree about the violets – you want the sweet wood violets not the African. Nasturtiums are also a fun little gem to use – I have a book by Susan Belsinger called “Flowers in the Kitchen” that offers a recipe of placing a dollop of guacamole in a nasturtium flower. Then there’s lavender to use in a variety of recipes, including herbs de Provence, which I found is really good for vegetables like green beans. Check out that book – it might give you some ideas!
Best regards,
Sharon
March 4, 2011 @ 2:02 pm
Thanks Sharon…I shall finagle a copy of said book. Kind of you to post. :)
March 3, 2011 @ 8:48 am
Ooohh don’t get me started, I love edible flowers for finishing off cakes and will be growing some myself this year to prettify baked goods!
Definitely roses, choose wisely on the violet front (some I think are poisonous?!?) scented geraniums look very pretty, alpine pinks, chamomile flowers, am I starting to go on a bit …..
Good luck I look forward to hearing how it goes.
March 4, 2011 @ 2:04 pm
of course chamomile!!! Brilliant thx!
March 3, 2011 @ 12:00 am
Crystallised violets and rose petals spring to mind so guess they are both edible. Hemerocallis( day lilies) are all edible too.
March 4, 2011 @ 2:03 pm
I was wondering about day lilies…I know some lilies are poisonous… Thx