My first introduction to the world of edible flowers was last summer when my children took a gardening class at the New York Botanical Gardens. (This program, by the way, is easily some of the best money I’ve spent on programs for my kids.) Every week my kids come bounding out of the program with large bags of produce in hand.
Being the cook that I am, I usually have lots of fun using their vegetables in the food that I make. It helps them make the connection between the food we eat and what it takes to get from the ground onto our plates.
But one morning the kids came bounding out with a large bag of. . .lovely purple flowers. “You can put them on the salad to make it prettier mom.” Not wanting to show anything but enthusiasm to my daughter I just kind of looked at the purple things and said, “Oh”. Why on earth would anyone put purple plants on their salads?
Well as it turns out–I was just uneducated. There are all manner of purple things to put in salads including purple beans–cousins of the green bean. And just like my daughter said, those edible flowers made the salad look fantastic and they were tasty with a little blue cheese too!
Cooking and garnishing with flowers enjoyed a height of popularity during the Victorian era. (It is rumored that Queen Victoria enjoyed flowers in all of her dishes.) In addition, it is common in other cuisines to cook with flowers. However, edible flowers are making a come back as a main stay in the dishes of those who dare to cook on the more exotic side.
Flowers You Probably Already Eat
You probably already eat a bunch of flowers anyways. (If you don’t at least you’ve heard of these edible flowers!) Broccoli, cauliflower and artichokes are all flowers. Saffron, the spice, is actually the stamen from the crocus flower. Capers are unopened flower buds from a bush native in the Mediterranean and Asian nations.
So which flowers can you eat? Look in the upcoming days for what flowers are good to eat and in what type of dishes you can use them.