You Can Do It: Delicious Edible Flowers

Photo: Facebook/The Sugared Violet

The most famous flower of all for eating is the Violet. They are beautiful, aromatic, and their flavor is very sweet. Put them in your salads, desserts, and drinks. Sugar them and when added to any dessert they are always a show stopper. The possibilities for using violets are endless.

Photo: Facebook/Cooking Together

There are many other blossoms you can use for teas, garnishes, main dishes, and appetizers. They don’t have to be sweet or perfumey. So, be brave and try some in casseroles, as garnishes on potatoes, cake garnishes, cookie decors or just as hors d’oeuvres. Wrap shrimp in some sage blossoms or lemon verbena blossoms and saute. Put small stuffed mushrooms into flower cups and serve.

Photo: Pixabay

For a sugared flower, chop your flower or petals and add to twice as much sugar as chopped flowers. Stir well and let set for about a week, shaking once in a while.  The natural moisture in the flowers will melt the sugar just enough to stick before it all dries. This is a beautiful garnish for desserts and drinks.

Photo: Facebook/Tus’ Clay Pots and Skillets

My grandmother put lilacs in her butter, which she churned herself, and in her homemade syrup. It was fun spreading all that on toast or pancakes and trying to get lots of the petals to eat. She also put sage flowers, rose petals, lemon verbena, and other herbs in her butters.

On What’s Cooking America, their charts list how to choose edible flowers, in the flower beds, your vegetable garden, your herb garden, and even your fruit trees. So, with any holiday that you can plan for, do something different and you might like cooking and eating flowers so much that you do it all the time. A recipe for crystallized candied edible flowers can also be found at What’s Cooking America.