Flowers come dine with me?
As you may already know, many people like to infuse flowers with tea , giving it a unique flavour, as well as being good for you. But did you also know that there are many flowers that can be eaten? Served along side salads and other foods, adding flowers to the menu will can give your food a flavour kick, as well as providing you with the health benefits that most edible flowers boast.
There are many different types of flowers which can be added to your meals to make them a little bit extra special, some flowers go better with certain foods than others, read on to find some examples of flowers that aren’t just nice to look at, but nice to eat too!
- ·Angelica : Angelica flowers are the perfect compliment to fish meals, providing a sort of sweet-celery like taste, additionally, when sugared, their stems make ideal sweets.
- ·Eruca vesicaria (Arugula) : The leaves of this flower gives a nutty, slightly spicy flavour, and is a great addition to fresh salads.
- ·Carnation : Similar in taste to Arugula leaves, the flower of a Carnation boasts a spicy nutty flavour, and can be used with similar foods.
- ·Cornflower : When eaten, cornflower petals can give a sweet to spicy flavour, dependant on how long it has been flowering for.
- ·Lilac: Lilac flowers provide a lemony , sweet flavour when eaten.
These are just a few examples of flowers that can give an extra kick to your meals, there are many many more!
Although you can safely eat a lot of flowers to enjoy their flavours, it’s generally not as simple as picking them from the ground and eating them, there are a few precautions you should take to eat flowers safely:
- ·Unless specified, only eat the petals of the flower
- ·Wash the flowers thoroughly with a sieve and clean water
- ·Most importantly, it is imperative that you do not eat any flowers that have been treated with pesticides, or have been grown in soil that has had pesticides or weed killer in it.
We hope you take advantage of these tips , and use them to make your meals a little different!