Edible Flowers to Grow in Your Garden
Edible Flowers to Grow in Your Garden
BY DAVID OTTERSTROMI love to see the excitement in my friends’ faces when I serve them a dish or drink with flowers. Adding to your food any of the edible flowers listed here can show finesse, increase flavor and stimulate fun conversation around the table, but you should always make sure to correctly identify these flowers before eating them from the wild or your garden.
Nasturtium
Tropaeolum Majus
These showy flowers have a peppery, radish like flavor. They are great to mix with mild salad greens to add a kick. Try stuffing them with cream cheese or hummus. They mostly come in hues of reds and yellow. Don’t be shy about using the leaves, too. Nasturtium leaves are also edible and delicious in salads.
Calendula
Calendula Officinalis
This flower has a slight tang and pepper flavor and works well in both sweet and savory dishes. Dry the petals and use them in cooking like saffron. Add the fresh petals on top of pasta or avocado toast. They add a cheerful yellow or orange accent to your food. Only use the petals because the flower’s center tastes too resinous. Harvesting the flowers from this plant regularly will encourage prolific blooms so you can enjoy them all season long. Langley WA 98260
Borage
Borago Officinalis
These star shaped flowers stand out with their vibrant blue and violet hues. Their cool tones create a beautiful color contrast to many dishes. They have a cucumber flavor, so they are great to add to things that pair well with cucumber. They look awesome frozen in ice cubes or added to cucumber salads or cocktails. Borage produces tons of flowers throughout the season, so you will have lots to use. This plant can excessively reseed and grow, but luckily they are easy to weed out if they do.
Chives
Allium Schoenoprasum
Chive blossoms add a beautiful purple color to dishes that could use a bit of their subtle onion flavor. Mild enough to use fresh in salads or as a garnish on top of soups and other savory dishes, try adding them to scrambled eggs or fry them up and make chive blossom fritters. You can also infuse them in white vinegar and create a beautiful violet vinegar that tastes great and brings a wow factor to the kitchen.
Pansies
Viola × Wittrockiana
Pansies are one of the most beloved edible flowers out there. They grow in many colors and add a whimsical look decorated on cakes, shortbread cookies and served frozen in ice cubes. Due to their subtle wintergreen flavor, they work well in sweets or garnished on salads. They love to grow in cool weather, so pansies thrive in our area during spring and fall, but they will survive the hot summers if you give them a shady spot in your garden.
Spearmint
Mentha Spicata
Spearmint has stunning flowers that grow as soft and billowy little spires. Used as a garnish, they stand out with their unique look. Use them alone or alongside their leaves. The flowers have a softer spearmint flavor than the leaves. Great to include them in your mint iced tea or mint cocktails. They also make a beautiful garnish on mint ice cream or fruit salads. Be sure to grow this herb in containers because it can grow out of control and take over your garden.
