Friday Rookie Topic: Edible Flowers

cheyannarach 6/22/2012, 3:41 pm

Why do you plant flowers in your square foot garden according to Mel? Because they are pretty that's why, but I have heard a lot of people that have a hard time letting flowers have room that veggies could have. I love planting flowers and I had flower gardens before I ever veggie gardens so I always include them in my garden. Like Mel says they are just pretty! But there are many many flowers that you can eat too! Some of my favorites include violas, nasturtiums, and borage. Other edible eye candies for the garden include pansies, calendulas, roses, marigolds, dandelions, carnations ( http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/Articles/Cooking-Tips--Techniques-642/edible-flowers.aspx ) .... The first recorded culinary use of flowers dates way back to 140 BC using rose petals.

Some of the few fun things that I do most with flowers are:

Put nasturtium (peppery) and viola (sweet) blossoms in salads for a boost of different flavors and textures! http://fcs.okstate.edu/food2/food/food/1998/carotvsalad.htm

Make ice cubes with small flower heads frozen inside whenever I have make a bowl of punch for guests. It's eyecatching and a conversation! Violas are perfect for this. http://homecooking.about.com/od/beveragerecipes/r/blbev2.htm

Cake decorating!

Nastutiums are good in a zesty homemade vinigairette! http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/nasturtium-vinaigrette-10000000523784/

　

There are so many flowers and endless possibilities so this is just the tip of the iceburg but I hope I have got you thinking hmmm Friday Rookie Topic: Edible Flowers 601593

Friday Rookie Topic: Edible Flowers 601593

, what could I do with these flowers in my square foot garden! Keep in mind just like everything else to much of a good can be bad so eat in moderation this can be hard on your digestive track if over done and if you are prone to allergies try baby steps and watch for a reaction, and last but not least not all flowers are edible so be sure to check a reliable source before trying something you're not sure of!

　

Red, White and Blue Salad

¾ cup sour cream
1/4 tsp. Course black pepper
1 tsp. White sugar
1 tblsp. Rice wine vinegar
1 tsp. Fresh chopped dill
1/8 tsp. Fresh grated lemon peel
1/4 tsp. Finely grated red onion
salt
1 english cucumber
3 garden fresh red tomatoes
10 borage flowers

This is an excellent summer salad and you can probably get most of the produce fresh out of your garden. I would love to hear anyone elses favorite edible flowers, uses, and recipes!
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**gwennifer** 6/22/2012, 6:40 pm

What a fun Rookie Topic. Thanks cheyannarach!

Putting pretty aside, every vegetable garden should have flowers to attract pollinators. I suppose the reason that marigolds, calendula, nasturtiums, and sunflowers are such popular vegetable garden flowers is because they all have edible parts too then. Cool!

Here's another website for reference purposes, with an alphabetical listing of flowers by type: http://whatscookingamerica.net/EdibleFlowers/EdibleFlowersMain.htm

cheyannarach 6/23/2012, 12:23 am

Thanks for pointing that out gwennifer! Very important to attract those pollinators (have you ever tried saying it in a terminator voice... you have now, lol). I also use geramiums and petunias as trap crops (not edible). I just remembered another fun thing I like to do is make hanging baskets as gifts but everything planted is edible like bunching onions, lettuce, nasturtiums, radishes, and violas. It's a fun gift to give and different from just flowers!

**RoOsTeR** 6/23/2012, 9:51 am

Cheyanne, thanks for getting a rookie topic out for us this week. All the benefits and pluses aside, I've enjoyed having flowers in my vegetable gardens just for the eye appeal. All pedal nibbling aside, it's amazing (to me) how nicely they offset everything else.
Great topic!!

ramarks 6/23/2012, 11:38 am

Thanks for the post - and for the links. I'm going to try this in some spots.

SwampTroll 5/20/2017, 2:07 pm

Oohh new ideas to add to the garden.

*Yes, I know this is an old thread, but I thought it was time it got some new life.*

I think I still have enough time to incorporate at least some of these into my garden this year.

Unfortunately my wife can't have Borage (which I had planned to put in my garden) due to her blood thinners (Always talk to a doc before trying new things as they can have some nasty interactions).

Or maybe I'll just grow them just to have some fresh flowers. Always an idea...

BeetlesPerSqFt 5/20/2017, 9:58 pm

Thanks for reviving this thread, SwampTroll!
I grow a lot of edible flowers in (and around) my garden, and I love revisiting the topic so I keep them in mind as I plan. Although it's tangential to uhm... flower-flowers, I also take advantage of vegetable flowers like chive flowers, and bolting arugula, and claytonia.

SwampTroll 5/21/2017, 12:58 pm

Oooh vegetable flowers. I hadn't even thought that far. I thought of the squash flowers, but never thought that the perhaps some of the other flowers were edible as well.

BeetlesPerSqFt 5/22/2017, 9:01 am

Others in that category include
- pea flowers (from edible pea plants, not the decorative sweet peas)
- flowers from vegetables in the cabbage family, including mustard and radish
- and most fascinating to me: okra flowers!

A number of herb flowers are also edible, including: basil, dill, chervil, cilantro, fennel, salad burnet, rosemary and sage.

**Scorpio Rising** 5/22/2017, 9:22 am

I never thought about it! I have nibbled violas and nasturtiums, and had fried squash flowers....yum!

SwampTroll 5/22/2017, 10:07 am

Ooohh.... Okra flowers.

The only problem with that is no Okra. That means no gumbo and gumbo is NEEDED. Razz

Fried flowers?? How does that even work?

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BeetlesPerSqFt 5/22/2017, 11:39 am

SwampTroll wrote:Fried flowers?? How does that even work?

https://www.splendidtable.org/recipes/nonnas-pan-fried-zucchini-flowers

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Friday Rookie Topic: Edible Flowers

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