Herbal Branch 25:

Edible Flower Recipes!

You can eat flowers?
(New LearningHerbs.com product preview at the end of this article)  

Happy summer!

Yes, it’s me, John. I know you haven’t heard from me in a while, but I am back from the land of acupuncture exams. The GOOD news is that I passed! It will be a few months before I am licensed, but at least the test is behind me. If anyone tuned into the last Branch, you read all about how Kimberly’s lemon balm infusions were keeping me calm and focused.

We are really lucky in Carnation, WA to have an awesome summer Farmer’s Market every Tuesday.

Last week they were featuring edible flowers, and I thought it would be a GREAT topic for an Herbal Branch. Kimberly often tops our summer salads with flowers from our garden, including nasturtium and calendula.

Yep! The same calendula that’s in your herbal salve you made in the Herbal Medicine Making Kit.

Not many people know you can eat flowers at all, let alone which ones are tasty or how to use them in their cooking. So, here is your “quick-start” guide to eating flowers. We also have a long list of flowers you can use in salads and other edible flower recipes.

Before we get into WHAT flowers to eat, lets’ cover a few rules…

Ten Rules of Edible Flowers for Edible Flower Recipes

1. Eat flowers only when you are positive they are edible.

2. Just because flowers are served with food does not mean they are edible. (See rule #1)

3. Eat only the flowers that have been grown organically.

4. Do not eat flowers from florists, nurseries or garden centers unless you know they have been grown organically (see rule #3).

5. If you have hay fever, asthma or allergies, do not eat flowers, or do so cautiously, (see rule #7 & #10).

6. Do not eat flowers picked from the side of the road. They may be contaminated from car emissions (see rule #3).

7. Remove pistils and stamens from flowers before eating. Eat only the petals.

8. Not all flowers are edible. Some are poisonous.

9. There are many varieties of any one flower. Flowers taste different when grown in different locations.

10. Introduce flowers into your diet the way you would new foods to a baby- one at a time in small quantities.

This list is from Edible Flowers, From Garden to Palate, by Cathy Wilkinson Barash

Here are ideas for edible flower recipes:

Flowers for salads and edible flower recipes