Stopping to smell the flowers is one thing.
Stopping to eat them is a whole different (and more engaging!) story.
Most people skimming across this blog have probably grown nasturtiums before, picked purple clover, or seen violets in local salad blends. Spicing up your spring meals with the colors of the season, however, can pretty much go as far as you have the stomach for.
In the past, I have used pretty petals as a garnish or to bring different colors to a dish. Although I still do this, of course, I have recently been using florals as a main ingredient, which results in a striking presentation with unusually bold flavors combinations.
Basing a salad with rosa rugosa, black locust flowers, and nasturtium instead of mixed greens is an incredible way to pack a dynamic punch to a side dish that, let’s face it, can be pretty monotonous.
This particular floral combo is more impressive than you might imagine, and the taste, tang, and sweetness should determine the additional ingredients.
I like to focus on the aromatic dimension of the flowers and typically go with lighter add-ons, like peas, mozzarella, beets, almonds, etc. Alternatively, you can create a real wow effect by bringing fruit and herbs into the mix.
Everyone has a different pallet, and there is a bit of a trial-and-error period to finding which edible flowers are you prefer. Some of my favorite spring and summer edible flowers are:
- Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare)
- Peppermint (Mentha piperita)
- Honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica)
- Lavender (Lavandula sp.)
- Beach rose (Rosa rugosa)
- Nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus)
Flowers I cannot wait to try this year:
- Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)
- Hibiscus (Hibiscus spp.)
- Daylily (Hemerocallis spp.)
Bringing beauty into your meals (and into your body!) is such a romantic way to engage with your environment. Using your eye to create a healthy, attractive, and compelling dish exercises your creativity and leaves you with a sense of peace and accomplishment. Working with seasonal fruits, vegetables, migrating wild fish, and flowers is not only going to impress your guests (even if it’s just you!), but the health benefits of consuming locally are abundant.
Experiment cooking your flowers with meats, in soups, grill them, roast them, sauté them! As I’ve mentioned before, this is not a food blog, and the overarching point to this post is to have fun by doing something simple, healthy, beautiful, and different. So off you go, to do just that.
Remember to only use plants that have not been in contact with herbicides or pesticides, and to always wash your food of all bugs and yucky before consuming.
Glamping Queen 