Have you ever been delivered a meal that was garnished with a beautiful and edible flower? Although this seems like an exotic means of decorating a dish, edible flowers are not things found exclusively in high-end restaurants. You’re capable of growing these beautiful and tasty plants in your own backyard and can apply them in many ways to your life outside of your garden.
How to Use Them
Edible flowers have a much more diverse application beyond garnishes – although they do add aesthetics to a plate! Some of the more obvious ways to use these flowers are in dishes such as salads or stuffed zucchini blossoms. However, with a quick search online, there are dozens of more abstract recipes that depend on the contents of your gardens. Some examples of flower-heavy plates include violet asparagus risotto, lilac scones, pansy petal pancakes, and tempura flowers. Many baked recipes, such as macarons, cupcakes, and even lollipops, call for flowers as well. The flavor palettes bakers focus on frequently include rose, lavender, violet, lilac, and more.
Edible flowers are also just as valuable to a chef as they are to a bartender. Using mint in mojitos or other herbs in simple syrups is not uncommon, there are endless cocktail recipes that allow you to make delicious drinks without venturing beyond your garden and liquor cabinet. Some examples include rose martinis, marigold cocktails, and honeysuckle cordial. Flowers can also be used to make tinctures, which are concentrated liquid herbal extracts. Flowers can be fermented if you’re looking for a more pungent and distinct flavor to introduce at your next cocktail party.
If you’re not looking for an evening drink, edible flowers are great additions to tea. If you make your own tea bags, all you need to do is take lavender, mint, hibiscus, and more to steep in your drink.
Health Benefits
Besides being tasty, edible flowers have noted health benefits as well. This is great to keep in mind if you’re looking for natural remedies for aches, pains, migraines, and more. Below are some flowers and their corresponding health treatments:
- Feverview for migraines and muscle tension
- Dandelions for appetite loss, stomach issues, gas, gallstones, pain in the joints, eczema, and even constipation
- Pansies for arthritis, skin problems, asthma, high blood pressure, and even epilepsy
- Lavender for eye and skin health
- Coriander for blood clotting and heart protection
- Chamomile for anxiety and mental health
- Rose for indigestion, constipation, urinary problems, stress, headaches, and arthritis
- Yucca for immune systems, improve heart health, aid digestion, reduce cholesterol levels, ease arthritis, and more
Sustainability
Edible flowers are sustainable for both the environment and your wallet. By pulling from your own garden instead of the grocery store, you’ll be eliminating the amount of waste associated with industrial farming. You will also be reducing your carbon footprint since vegetables have notably lower production consequences within the environment compared to meats. If you’re not a vegetarian, even replacing one meal per week that conventionally has meat with a product from your garden will be positively contributing to the earth.
Utilizing edible flowers is also financially beneficial. For instance, a dozen roses typically cost around $10, whereas a pack of rose seeds (which can yield at least 2x the number of flowers) only costs a few dollars.
Growing Guide
For the most part, edible flowers have an annual growing cycle and thrive one season per year. Although the best growing conditions may vary slightly from plant to plant, it is typically best to seed your edible flowers when they can maximize the amount of sunlight in well-drained soil. Be sure to perform research on the exact seeds you’ll be using to learn more about the optimal growing conditions to maximize each of your seeds.
Since you’ll most likely be consuming these seeds, is also vital that they’re only grown with organic products. Do not contaminate your plants with artificial and chemical-filled products like pesticides because those toxins will ultimately make their way into your body. It’s best to use organic methods like all-natural fertilizer or compost to provide nutrients to your seeds.
Be Careful
It’s extremely important to familiarize yourself with your plants before making the decision to consume them. There are many plants that appear similar to edible flowers that are not safe for eating. Be sure that if you are cooking with any natural plants found outside, you are absolutely certain what those plants are and if they are healthy to digest.
Also, perform research on which parts of your plant are meant to be eaten. Oftentimes, only the petals or leaves of a given seed is able to be consumed, including roses, calendulas, tulips, chrysanthemums, yucca, and lavender.
Beneficial for All Involved!
Ultimately, edible flowers can have a great impact on your garden, kitchen, and body. You can contact the full-service landscape and lawn maintenance company to do the job for you. There is an abundance of websites dedicated to practical ways to implement these flowers into your cooking, baking, and bartending. If you’re not looking to necessarily eat your plants, many flowers can also be used for decoration, crafting projects, and more.
By introducing edible flower seeds to your garden, you’ll be making a positive impact on the microclimate of your backyard and the decreased carbon footprint on the greater environment. You’ll also benefit your spendings and eliminate the costly weight that purchasing edible flowers can have on your grocery store budget.
For the next growing season, think about planting edible flowers for yourself, if nothing else. Not only can they treat minor health ailments, but having the opportunity to grow them, cook or bake with them, and spend time tending the seeds in your garden can be a positive contributor towards your general health and happiness.
