Wow Your Guests At Your Next Gathering With Edible Flowers

Flowers add colour, fragrance and flavour to all manner of culinary delights. With so many different varieties to spice up your cooking, nature on a plate has never looked so good.

- Carrol Baker

Pretty blooms are not only pleasing to the eye and the palate; they add a delightful layer of texture and vibrancy to food. Some edible petals are tangy, others add herbaceous flavours and some are subtle and taste just the way they smell: exotically fragrant.

Edible flowers have featured in culinary dishes for centuries. In ancient Greece, Egypt and China, they were part of a cook’s culinary repertoire. Flowers are now making a bold comeback and many contemporary chefs incorporate them into their signature dishes. Why don’t you try them for yourself and wow your guests at your next gathering?

Blooming tasty

One of the best ways to source flowers for food is to grow them. Edible varieties of commercially grown flowers may be sprayed with chemicals, so can’t be eaten. Some flower varieties are also toxic, so only pick and eat flowers you know are pesticide-free consumable species.

Grow edible flowers according to their individual requirements: each species has its own soil, orientation and watering needs. Check with a nursery for advice on local growing conditions for a particular plant species — and label your plants. It’s also usually recommended not to overeat edible flowers. Just like chocolate, a little bit of what you love is OK but it’s not always wise to overindulge.

Control pests using appropriate measures such as companion planting, hand removal of caterpillars and snails, eco-oil or a sprinkle of diatomaceous earth, a soft sedimentary rock that’s edible but kills bugs.

Pick flowers in the early morning and be careful not to crush them as you gather what you need. Check thoroughly for bugs and discard crushed or torn petals. Rinse under water and store the flowers in a cool place. If it’s a warm spring or summer day, place them in the fridge in a container to keep them fresh.