Edible Flowers

Gardening is wonderful especially when you can get multiple uses out of your garden. Cooking with flowers is not exactly a new concept. Flavoring foods with flowers dates back to biblical times, and almost everyone is aware of the great uses of herbs. Actually, most herb flowers can be used in cooking.

There is also a group of flowers that may be lurking in your garden that are not only enjoyable but edible too. If you're like me, and like to impress your dinner guests with a wonderful presentation, don't forget to add some home grown flowers as a garnish to salads or your food platters.

The following is a list of edible flowers and their uses. As with anything you harvest from your garden make sure they have not been in recent contact with insecticides or herbicides. Always wash your flowers before use.

• Daylily (Hemerocallis): Sweet crunchy buds have the best flavor. It has a similar texture to crisp lettuce and it tastes faintly like chestnuts. Use in salads, soup or even candy them. It can even be used as a homeopathic remedy, it can act as a natural laxative!
• Bee Balm (Monarda): Sweet tasting. Flowers can be used as a garnish in salads, tea and lemonade. The leaves are also edible.
• Common Dandelion (Taraxacum): Young leaves and blossoms are great in salads. You can also crystallize them.
• Common Sunflower (Helianthus): Use in soups and salads. Seeds are also edible.
• Marigolds (Tagetes): Use as a salad garnish or add to herbal tea. It is also an inexpensive saffron substitute. Some cultivators have a citrus taste.
• Nasturtium (Tropaeolum): Remove the bitter stem before using. Wonderful in salads and butter. You can stuff them or crystallize them too.
• Plantain Lily (Hosta): Use in salads, fry it or pickle it. Hosta fortunei is the tastiest!
• Stock (Matthiola): Use in salads or as a garnish. It has a perfumed taste.
• Violets/Pansies: Can be used in salads, vinegars, butter and tea. They can also be used in syrups and jellies.
• Squash Blossoms: Remove the stamens and stuff with cream cheese. Yum!

Using fresh flowers is a wonderful way to bring your garden indoors. In the landscape I like to combine my favorite edible flowers with my herb garden for ease of picking. Not all flowers are edible, if you are in doubt a simple rule is don't eat them. Allergy prone people should avoid using flowers in large quantities