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CHOOSE YOUR EDIBLE FLOWERS VERY
CAREFULLY.
(Life and Arts)(NORTHWEST GARDENS)
From: Seattle Post-Intelligencer (Seattle, WA) | Date: May 23, 2002
Byline: ANN LOVEJOY COLUMNIST
A RECENT ARTICLE on edible flowers available
at the Arboretum Plant Sale brought several questions from readers wanting to
know more. It is very hard to know which flowers are safe to eat and which are
not when your only guide is what you see in recipe books and food magazines.
These handsome publications are full of
pretty pictures in which food and flowers are combined. On occasion I have been
horrified to see quite toxic flowers, such as angel's trumpet (Datura or
Brugmansia), spilling over with chicken salad, and daffodils and
lily-of-the-valley trimming cakes. Some flowers are not dangerously toxic for
most people yet can cause irritation even in the less-sensitive. Thus, when you
see a calla lily loaded with peeled shrimp in a lush photo spread, try the
recipe but choose another garnish, please.
That said, quite a number of flowers common
to vegetable beds and ornamental borders are both lovely to look at and tasty to
boot.
Which flowers are the
safest? The answer is twofold. First, no flower is safe to eat unless it has
been organically grown. This means no chemical herbicides or pesticides have
been used on or around the plant. Rose fertilizers that contain systemic toxins
are included in this category, as are any fertilizers of the weed-and-feed
variety.
This also means that edible flowers that are
brought home from nurseries and garden centers are not safe to eat unless they
have been grown organically or sustainably (without toxins). Fortunately, it's
easy to grow your own edible annuals from seed, everything from calendulas to
pansies and violets.
Secondly, for some people, eating pollen can
trigger allergies or even asthma. To be safe, remove the pollen-bearing parts of
each edible flower (the pistils and stamens). The sepals or calyx also should be
removed from all flowers except the viola-violet clan (pansies, Johnny-Jump-Ups,
violets and violettas).
Here are 10 kinds of
easy-to-grow edible flowers:
Calendula (Calendula officinalis) - In the
cool Northwest, calendulas bloom through the year. Use the petals (fresh or
dried) to add a gentle bite to soups and salads. Well-chopped, the petals add
color and flavor to rice dishes (much like saffron).
Chives (Allium schoenoprasum) -
Honey-scented chive blossoms have a decidedly oniony flavor that adds snap to
soups, sandwich spreads and salads. Break up the clustered blossoms and scatter
individual florets over pasta for garnish.
Daylily (Hemerocallis species) - Common in
Chinese cookery, fresh daylily blossoms or dried buds can be used year-round.
Buds are eaten just before they open, when in full color, and taste rather like
green beans. Open, they taste mildly sweet; fill pink daylily flowers with melon
balls or use yellow daylilies for elegant, individual pesto potato salads.
Mint (Mentha species) - Add fuzzy blue mint
flowers to lemonade or fruit salad and use them to garnish chocolate ice cream
treats. They also work well in curries, rice dishes, and green salads or with
steamed vegetables. The leaves of many kinds of mint are decorative and tasty
too.
Nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus) - Lovely in
salads, nasturtiums also can be used to garnish salmon or chicken dishes.
Slightly astringent and peppery, nasturtium flowers work best in savory dishes.
Layer slabs of tomatoes and fresh mozzarella cheese, drizzle with balsamic
vinegar and garnish with golden nasturtiums.
Pansy (Viola x wittrockiana) - Velvety
pansies are for thoughts, so use them to tell dear ones that you think about
them often. The petals have a soft, minty flavor that lends itself to sweet or
savory dishes. Use them to trim tortes, to garnish herbed tuna, or tossed into a
quick curry.
Rose (Rosa species) - Sweet and fragrant
rose petals are an elegant garnish for game hens or fish. Rosa officinalis, the
apothecary rose, is one of the nicest, but almost any fragrant rose will taste
sweet. Sumptuous in summery salads, rose petals also can grace desserts.
Sage (Salvia officinalis) - Try sliding some
culinary sage flowers under the skin of turkey or chicken, along with a few
sprigs of rosemary. The flowers have a warm, herby flavor with a hint of heat.
Toss orange slices and fennel with sage flowers and slivered sage leaves.
Signet or Threadleaf Marigold (Tagetes
signata or T. tenuifolia) - Spicy, lemon-scented signet marigolds are tastier
than most of their kin. The flavor is somewhat like tarragon. Try the petals in
carrot and orange salad, mash some into deviled eggs, or sprinkle petals over
potato soup.
Squash Blossom (Cucurbita species) - Toss
these pretty flowers into stews, fry them in fritters, or stuff them with herbed
goat cheese. The flower flavor is gently green. New tips of young shoots often
taste slightly salty and crunchy, so use those, too.
Flowers to decorate a dessert - Apple
blossom, clover, Johnny Jump-Ups, mint flowers, pansies, rosebuds and petals,
violets.
Flowers you can eat whole - Clover,
honeysuckle, Johnny-Jump-Up, runner bean, violet
Books on this topic - They
are few, and many are not well-researched. I can wholeheartedly recommend
"Edible Flowers From Garden to Palate" by Cathy Wilkinson Barash (Fulcrum
Publishing, 250 pages, $29.95).
Ann Lovejoy, a free-lance
garden and food writer, can be reached via mail at: 9010 Miller Road N.E.,
Bainbridge Island, WA 98110. Her latest books are "Ann Lovejoy's Organic Design
School: A Guide to Creating Your Own Beautiful, Easy-Care Garden" (Rodale, 280
pages, $35) and "The Sage Garden: Flower and Foliage for Health and Beauty"
(Chronicle Books, 144 pages, $17.95).
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