Edible spring flowers tempt taste buds in east China

A new culinary culture is blooming in east China where a wide variety of edible spring flowers are attracting attention.

At a Hema Fresh supermarket in Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province, boxes of edible fresh flowers, such as sophora, chrysanthemum, rose and jasmine, offer residents a fresh taste of the season.

"We generally admire these flowers, but I feel curious about theirtastes, if they are eatable," said a shopper.

"We cook these fresh flowers with other ingredients, like with scrambled eggs. It's tasty," said another shopper.

Among the fresh flowers on sale, chrysanthemums cost about 16 yuan for 30 grams, roses about 13 yuan for 100 grams, and sophora flowers sell for about 10 yuan for 100 grams.

According to the supermarket, sales of these newly released flowers have been on the rise.

To boost sales further the supermarket is also offering semi-processed flowers.

"We pre-cooked eggs and sophora flowers for display. Customers can see them and place orders on-site," said Sun Qi, chef at Hema supermarket.

Its online store sells more than 5,000 orders of sophora flowers a month. Meanwhile, rose is also very popular and can be made into rose jam, wine, tea or cake.