Edible Flowers
Do you eat broccoli? Then yes, you’ve already eaten a flower! Brighten up your summer meals -- for both taste and visual appeal -- with more edible flowers.
It's amazing how many familiar flowers are edible. You may have heard of eating summer squash blossoms (battered and fried), but did you realize okra flowers and pea blossoms are also edible? That's just for starters. Many different flowers can be eaten raw or cooked, used as garnish or as seasoning.
Look beyond the vegetable garden and start in on the herbs. Chives, basil, dill, borage, and of course lavender flowers are edible.
Some plants, such as the lavender above, cross the line between herb plot and flower garden. Besides lavender, you might be growing edible flowers in your flower garden: dianthus, bee balm or bergamot (Monarda), and scented geraniums (Pelargonium spp.) along with nasturtium, anise hyssop (Agastache foeniculum) and calendula.
Certain flowers currently considered as primarily ornamental can also be eaten. Try hollyhock petals, rose petals, daylily buds and petals (Hemerocallis) and all manner of Viola - V.odorata (sweet violet), V. tricolor (Johnny Jump Up) and V. wittrockiana (pansy) all have edible flowers. Have you ever tried candied violets?
Last but not least, next spring enjoy a few brightly colored tulip petals tossed on your salad. Imagine bright red tulip petals perhaps mixed with a few purple violet blooms: pure pizzazz. But don't eat the daffodils, crocus, azalea or foxglove blooms - those are poisonous.
This brings me to an important caveat. Make sure you have a definite identification of the flower you are thinking about eating. Be positively certain it is considered edible. Make absolutely sure the plant has not been treated with chemicals -- do not eat flowers from the florist or the garden center as these may have been sprayed or treated with systemics. Rinse the flower clean before you eat it. And try just a little taste: some have very definite flavors and most are best used as a garnish rather than a full sized serving.
And please, insist that your children follow these same guidelines. At my house, the rule was always: bring it inside to the kitchen, show it to a grown up, and then wash it before eating. So far, so good.
For more detailed information about edible flowers, you might find the following article and fact filled chart from Colorado State Extension interesting:
