Edible flowers are cropping up everywhere these days, from restaurant plates to cupcakes, and it’s easy to see why. They’re a simple, elegant way of bringing colour to any dish and nothing says ‘fancy’ like a few petals strewn throughout a salad or a blossom-bedecked dessert.
Yet edible flowers are so much more than a garnish. They’re delicious as well as beautiful, offering unique flavours and aromas that makes them much more than window dressing.
Technically speaking, broccoli, artichokes and capers are all edible flowers but the more decorative types – the ones that would work in a vase as well as on a plate – have also been eaten for centuries. They can be steeped into teas, pickled, rolled into pasta dough, stuffed, turned into jams and preserves or used as flavourings.
Edible flowers are available online and at farmer’s markets or many can be picked wild or grown in the garden. There are just a few rules: know what you are eating as some flowers are poisonous, remember to check carefully for insects or dirt and never pick anything that has grown by the roadside or in public parks as they could be contaminated by traffic fumes or pesticides. Flowers are best used as fresh as possible but can be kept in the fridge for up to a week, wrapped carefully in a damp paper towel inside an airtight container.
Here are a few of the most popular edible flowers and how to eat them.