Edible Flowers

Did you ever wonder what they did for seasonings before superstores where you can choose between thirty types of bottled seasonings? What did they put in their salads before salad fixins’? How did they decorate a wedding cake before they could call a cake decorator to make fancy frosting flowers or buy those hard candy decorations? What did they do without Mars bars or M& M’s? The answer to all the above questions is flowers, beautiful flowers: roses, hollyhocks, violets, borage, woodruff, lavender, carnations and many others. Thus began my adventure into the lost art of edible flowers.

It seems that women have always had the same problem: how to make meals look and taste good. From east to west since ancient times housewives have tried to make their meals look and taste better by using what was available to them. Woman kept journals full of advice, recipes and household information. In one fifteenth century book a list of herbs necessary for a household garden was found. It included borage flowers, daisies, violets to be used for soups, violets for sauce and gillyflowers for drinks. Almost any gaily colored flower could be used for salads: rosebuds, violets or cowslips, also saffron, marigold and primrose. The journal also contained recipes for flower waters, flower teas, jellies, jams, conserves, punches and fresh flower salads.

Now how did this housewife know to use these flowers? Again more questions, so my adventure continued; only now I amassed piles of magazine and newspaper clippings. New and old books were bought until the collection started to overtake the shelves. I found recipes where flowers were featured in sugar flavors, sweet sauces, liqueurs and potions; were baked into custards and tarts; where flowers, sugars and spices were candied, pickled, made into vinegars or frittered; made into teas, jams and conserves; or were eaten raw in salads. It seems like such a simple concept, using fresh flowers. Try adding calendula petals to soup or stew or use them raw in salads. It is said that calendula will protect against bad temper; what a great addition to my salad!

When I look out into my edible flower garden I see pot marigolds (Calendula officinalis), violets (Viola odorata ), roses ( Rosa ), nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus), chrysanthemum, day lilies (Hemerocallis), bee balm (Monarda didyma), borage (Borago officinalis) and scented geranium (Pelargonium). They all look so wonderful it is no wonder that these flowers were cherished for their beauty and their tasty petals.

It seems mankind has always had a love of food and flowers. The joys and delights of flower cookery date back to the beginning of man, going in and out of fashion, reaching a high peak in medieval and Elizabethan times. The use of squash flowers dates back as far as 2000BC. Today the Italians prize this vivid orange blossom. The day lily has long been an important food to the Chinese and Japanese; they eat the blossom like a vegetable. The Dutch have long used marigolds for coloring in cheese, noodles and soups. Marigolds also appear in their puddings, salads and meat dishes. The chrysanthemum is served on special occasions in China and inspired a national holiday in Japan . There are records giving flower recipes that were used in the Middle East and Eastern Europe , records of ancient Greeks and Romans enjoying roses and violets, and the Victorians were well known for their use of “sweet” dishes.

In one Victorian recipe roses were added to a salad: make sure to wash the flowers and gently tear the petals off the stem, mixing them with the greens. If the slightly bitter flavor of the petals seems unpleasant, cut away the white base of each petal before mixing them with the greens. Victorians also flavored sugar by layering rose petals in a jar of sugar. This sugar was then served with teas.

Flavoring sugars was a simple and easy way to use flowers; it is a simple way for you to get started, too. Go out in your garden and get a few mint or rose leaves and layer them in a jar with sugar, let them sit for awhile, then serve with your next tea, or on toast. You will have taken a step into the age-old art of cooking with flowers.

It is easy to start using edible flowers as long as you follow a few simple rules. Always correctly identify the flower you wish to eat, making sure it is edible. Eat only organically grown plants. Always wash and dry your plants. Check for bugs. Always eat a small amount at first. When in doubt, do without.

You can also try laying mint or scented geranium leaves in the bottom of a pan when baking a white cake mix. You can add chopped chives to ready-made biscuits or bread mixes. Try adding the flower petals of hollyhocks, calendula, nasturtium and bee balm to your salads. When making sugar cookies, add some chopped up mint or lavender flowers. Freeze some of your violets in an ice tray and serve in a glass of lemonade. Who knows, you may get so interested that you buy a book. Soon you’ll be making beautiful cakes and fabulous looking candied violets and borage leaves. What about making chocolate covered mint leaves? They are so beautiful, look so gorgeous, nothing can match them.

There is a certain charm in using flowers in your cooking, a sort of connection to the past. Or maybe it’s the bit of magic and mystery connected to each flower’s herbal lore and healing power. Perhaps it is just the air of mystery that flowers impart to your dinner. But I think edible flowers add a charm that should be brought back into our kitchens and dining rooms. What a great way to start interesting family dinner conversations!

For more information on edible flowers consult Edible Flowers by Claire Clifton, The Forgotten Art of Flower Cookery by Leona Woodring Smith or The Cornell Book of Herb & Edible Flowers by Jeanne Mackin.

Call the UNH Cooperative Extension’s Family, Home & Garden Education Center ’s Info-Line toll free at 1-877-398-4769 for “Practical Solutions to Everyday Questions.” Trained volunteers are available to answer your questions Monday through Friday from 9:00am to 2:00pm .

By Mary Wardman, Master Gardener University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension, Hillsborough County