The tasteful blooms good enough to eat
MOST of us grow vegetables and herbs for their fruit, leaves, stems, roots or tubers – but many also have edible flowers. Some taste great in their own right, while others are perfect for adding a splash of colour to salads, vegetable dishes and drinks. Several have huge blooms that are ideal for stuffing.
In the vegetable plot, the pretty lavender-blue blooms of chicory have a fairly mild taste and will inject a splash of colour in salads, while the white flowers that top rocket when it starts to bolt have a spicy tang that will add a kick to rice dishes. The flowers on garden peas possess a fresh, delicate, pea-like flavour.
The trumpet-shaped flowers of courgettes, marrows and other plants in the squash family are suitable for stuffing with cheese or other ingredients, before coating with tempura batter and deep-frying. Use only male flowers (those without baby fruit at the base of blooms) to avoid a reduction in yield.
Over in the herb garden, dill flowers are great in fish dishes, the blooms of chives are brilliant sprinkled on to salads, and mint flowers can be popped into savoury dishes. Along with mint leaves, strawberries and cucumber, the bright blue flowers of borage are a traditional garnish for a glass of Pimm’s.
As a rule, it’s best to pick flowers early in the day when they have just started to open, as the flavour will be at its most intense – avoid old, damaged and fading ones, as the flavour will be impaired. And if you have dogs or cats, don’t harvest flowers from parts of plants where they might have done their business.
Before picking, check the inside of trumpet-shaped blooms for bees and wait until they have moved on. Once the coast is clear, remove with a pair of garden snips and give them a shake to dislodge small insects. It’s best to use flowers immediately, but most will last for up to three days in a fridge. Some small flowers are used whole for decoration, but most need preparing prior to adding to dishes. Generally, it’s only the petals that are eaten, so discard stamens, pistils and other parts – the very bottom of petals is bitter, so snip off.
Wash gently in cold water and allow to dry on kitchen paper before using. A word of warning. Not all flowers from crops are good to eat, so carry out some research before tucking in. For example, those belonging to potatoes, tomatoes and aubergine are poisonous, while others simply taste disgusting. To check whether something is edible, go to Plants For A Future (pfaf.org).