Fun With Flowers!
Updated: Apr 12, 2022
I love everything about flowers and was so excited this year to find a beautiful Edible Beauty Mix of seeds from Botanical Interests.
As well as being a stunningly beautiful arrangement, this annual and perennial mix is entirely edible! They are in bright orange, blue, yellow, and pink colors. You'll not only enjoy their color all season but also the many ways you can use them. There is a range of flavors from these flowers, from peppery calendula to clove-like bachelor's button and the light wintergreen flavor of johnny-jump-ups. Add these beautiful blossoms to salads, soups, and cooked dishes, make herb butter, and add to vinegar, flavored drinks, and even ice cubes. The culinary possibilities are endless!
Here are a few of my favorite edible flowers:
Bachelor's Button Centaurea cyanus
These flowers have a slightly sweet to spicy, clove-like flavor. Flowers can be used dried or freshly cut, while the edible petals make a colorful garnish on salads, open-faced sandwiches, casseroles, decorating cakes, and cheese plates.
Borage Borago officinalis
The beautiful violet-blue has a slight flavor similar to cucumber. Use the beautiful flowers on salads, freeze in ice cubes, garnish cold summer soups, cakes, and muffins, or add to ice cubes and drinks. The dried petals also make a healing infusion used in aromatherapy blending.
Calendula Calendula officinalis
These petals have golden-orange hues with a spicy flavor. Sprinkle them onto egg dishes, casseroles, pasta or rice dishes, baked goods, herbed butter, salads, or sandwiches. Only the petals are edible. The dried petals also make a healing infusion used in aromatherapy blending.
Johnny-Jump-Up Viola tricolor
Beautiful purple, yellow, and white blooms have a mild wintergreen flavor. Add these flowers to salads, soups, cooked dishes, cakes, soft cheese dishes, herb butter, added to vinegar, ice cubes, and flavored drinks.
Nasturtium Tropaeolum majus
Nasturtiums rank among the most common edible flowers. These flowers add a sweet, spicy flavor similar to watercress. Use the entire flower as a beautiful edible garnish on salads, open-faced sandwiches, cooked dishes, cakes, and appetizer platters.
Quick tips for preparing edible flowers:
Harvest in the morning for the longest-lasting blooms.
Look for and remove any insects hiding in the blossoms.
Gently rinse the flowers.
Choose flowers free from chemicals, like ones you grew from seed. Purchased plants may have had long-lasting chemicals applied to them.