Flowers are not just for looking and smelling.
Many flowers can be eaten! They add texture and color to a raw salad or even a cooked meal. If you bake, you can also use flowers to create a beautiful design on top of a cake.
Just make sure the flowers were grown organically without the use of pesticides or chemicals. Remove the pistils and stamens and thoroughly wash flowers before eating. I’ve already started putting my hibiscus in my green tea.
Here are 10 flowers you can eat:
1. Carnations
As sweet as they are beautiful, Carnations can be steeped in wine or eaten plain.
2. Dandelion
This common weed does not get the credit it deserves. The greens of the plant are packed with antioxidants and minerals containing a high level of potassium. Although the plant can be a bit bitter, for those who don’t mind (think Arugula), it can be a wonderful addition to any salad.
3. Day Lily
Eowyn's day lilies!
This flower has a sweet taste and can be eaten raw. The tubers of the roots can be boiled and eaten like mini potatoes. Just remove the stalks and hairs and, of course, the dirt. The flower buds are a good source of vitamin C and carotene. But be careful — lilies are deadly to cats.
4. Hibiscus
Eowyn's hibiscus!
The flowers can be eaten, but the best way to use hibiscus is to make an infused tea. Just take ten or so flowers and soak them in hot water. Add lime for flavor and enjoy. Drinking it cold is just as delicious as hot, so for a nice summer day, put it on ice!
5. Honeysuckle
The base of the flower holds a sweet tasting nectar that can be eaten, and the entire flower makes a great addition to any spring or summer salad.
6. Lilac
The beautiful smelling lilac tastes how it smells — delicate and not overwhelming. Lilac is best used as a garnish. For something different try mixing it in vanilla frozen yogurt for an interesting treat.
7. Nasturtium
Eowyn's nasturtiums!
Both the leaves and flowers of the nasturtium plant are edible. The leaves have a peppery flavor and can be tossed into salads, and the flowers make a unique garnish to fresh foods. Nasturtiums are very easy to grow, and they re-seed into the ground.
These circular buds have played an essential role in the Native American diet for a long time. Rose Hips contain vitamin C and store well when dried properly. For a refreshing twist try making rosebud ice cubes.
9. Squash Blossoms
The orange, yellow blossom found at the top of the squash can be cooked or eaten raw. Called the “Poor Man’s Saffron,” squash blossoms’ flavor ranges from tangy to spicy with a bit of a peppery aftertaste. It’s a great complement to rice dishes, soups and pasta. The flower can also be used as a great herbal remedy. But the flower perishes fast, so if you want to use them, try to pick them right before you cook.
10. Violets
Both the flowers and the heart-shaped leaves of the wild violet are edible. Both add color and complexity to salads. The flower is often used to make jellies and teas and can also be candied and used as a decorative garnish.
Source for 9 of the 10 edible flowers is Refreshing News. I added the nasturtium 😉
~Eowyn
Dave
Dr. Eowyn
joandarc
traildustfotm
Pansies, roses, and lavender are also edible. Adding these to my list. Thanks, Eowyn!
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At least we can stay alive when the financial and economic crash Obama is moving us toward finally hits.
And I’m only half kidding.
-Dave
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Dave-when I started worrying about the financial crisis or Obama-crisis, I bought a book on edible plants. We may not starve on our mountain after all!!
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DW,
Yeah, but those winters might be a little rough unless you have a greenhouse. 😉
-Dave
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Dandelion is best when harvested early in Spring; the bitter quality increases w/age. My father gathered these, along w/cardoona/cardoon stems, which my mum battered in egg then fried in olive oil, delicious!! Purslane and Lamb’s Quarters are also excellent and very good when young. My landlords thought I was daft when they saw me harvest and then eat them w/lots of unsalted butter!
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LOL !
That’s why we have fences all around our property, without which, I can never grow roses. They’d all go as delicate munchies for deer.
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Had roses and violet jam once… simply superb!!!
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Hmmm… I’m suddenly starving… eyeing my honeysuckle outside, yum!😉
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Oh, side note, the honeysuckle berries are poisonous.
Other edible flowers: Gladiolus, hollyhock, marigold which can be used as a substitute for saffron, and peonies. There are others, but they have restrictions.
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Thank you, Judy! I should expand this list to include all the edible flowers you added. Maybe I’ll do “10 More Flowers You Can Eat” ! 😀
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Just because something is edible doesn’t mean you can eat it. Would test each flower separately, always using a counter agent just in case there were any sensitivities. I can suggest a few counter agents (Alka-Selzer Gold which is what I use for food reactions, and also homeopathic Histaminum hydrochloricum 200 c, or 1 M strengths).
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yea!. These may be helpful for the survivors who search for food
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As a long-time mushroom hunter-gatherer, I can attest that only an ignorant fool would gather and eat anything which s/he is not fully knowledgeable about, or w/o ways to cross-reference by home library or Internet, or both.
I was taught by my father, as he was by his family in Italy. Plants are now world-wide, as humans have scattered their seeds, and fungus has always had an immense range of territory. So it’s a part of our life heritage that we should be more informed about as much as possible. Life is ALL about learning! What did any of us know when we were born?
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i am eating a hybuscus or whatever right now (so good)
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Interesting Eowyn, Thank you for your time in preparation. I will have to make some discoveries of my own.
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