Nevin Martell
THE WASHINGTON POST – Don’t just stop and smell the roses – you can eat them, too. Plenty of easy-to-grow flowers that bring energy and beauty to your garden are also completely edible and can be used to infuse food and drinks with unusual flavours and eye-catching colours.
Before you turn your yard into a pretty pantry of beautiful blooms, though, The Edible Flower co-author Erin Bunting recommends spending a season observing the space and its prevailing conditions, including the sunny and shady zones, the wet and dry areas, and the health and quality of the soil.
If you have a culinary garden, planting flowers nearby will attract pollinators and potentially deter pests from snacking on prized fruits and vegetables. Once flowers have started to sprout, she suggests mulching the plants to keep in moisture, suppress weeds and moderate ground temperature.
And because you will be eating the flowers, Bunting strongly advises against treating plants with any nonorganic pesticides or herbicides.
For blooms that will be enjoyed fresh, rather than being dehydrated, Eat Your Flowers author Loria Stern advocates for treating them like fresh herbs to extend their life span after they’re plucked.
“Wrap them in a damp paper towel, put them in an airtight container and store them in the fridge,” she said.
Here are eight edible flowers that look as good as they taste.
ROSES
These romantic perennials are easy to grow in containers or the ground, as long as they receive six or more hours of sunlight a day and are in well-drained soil. Prune them in the spring for the best blooms in the summer.
The dried petals are often showcased in sweets, but Stern said they work just as well in savoury dishes.
“In Persian culture, they put rose petals on roasted chicken or rice dishes,” she said.
“I like sprinkling them on savoury yogurt dips, too.”
Another option is to make rose-infused salt, a condiment favoured by Floral Provisions author Cassie Winslow who uses it for an unexpected flowery accent on french fries and the rims of drink glasses.
PANSIES
Plant batches of already-grown flowers early in the spring or the fall to be rewarded with several months of blooms. Most varieties favour at least six hours of sunlight daily and well-fertilised soil.
“When the flowers are raw, they smell a bit like honey and have a sweet pea and cinnamon flavour,” said Stern, who uses the delicate flowers soon after plucking them because they wilt quickly.
One of her favourite tricks: pressing them into cookies for a showstopping effect.
CHAMOMILE
You don’t need a yard or a garden for this tea-friendly plant that thrives in pots. It loves sun and water, but doesn’t need any special care.
The flowers, which have white petals and yolky yellow centres, bring a honeyed, earthy sensibility to dishes, according to Winslow, who likes weaving the flowers into apricot jam, granola and chocolate pumpkin bread.
DAHLIAS
The tubers that grow these dazzling flowers shouldn’t go in the ground until after the last spring frost and do best in areas with strong morning sun and protection from the wind.
Eight weeks later, you’ll be rewarded with pompomlike flowers available in almost every colour imaginable.
The petals contain a high liquid content, so they aren’t the best contenders for pressing or dehydrating.
“But their big leaves are great tossed in a fresh salad as if they were a lettuce,” said Stern.
BORAGE
“If you plant borage once, you will probably always have borage because it grows very easily,” said Bunting.
Sow seeds for the annual herb in late spring, either in a container or directly into the ground, then just sit back and watch it flourish.
Its periwinkle blue, star-shaped flowers have a refreshing cucumber flavour, said Bunting, who likes putting them in salads, freezing them in ice cubes or using them to garnish gin and tonics.
CORNFLOWERS
Sow these hardy annuals in the spring in a sunny patch of land for a summer-long supply of blossoms that can be cerulean blue, dark burgundy, white, reddish purple or pink.
Bunting describes the petals as having a slightly spicy, clove-like flavour.
She likes to dry them in a dehydrator or an oven set to the lowest temperature, then uses them to decorate cakes and gussy up rice dishes throughout the year.
NASTURTIUMS
“They’re so easy to grow, they’re almost like weeds,” said Stern. The bright, bold trumpet-shaped flowers spread quickly and bloom brilliantly as long as they’re in a sunny area.
The raw petals have a peppery taste. Winslow enjoys sprinkling them on flatbreads, coleslaw and tacos.
CALENDULA
Put seeds into the ground after the last frost in a spot that gets full or partial sun and you’ll be rewarded all summer.
However, if slugs and other pests are prevalent, Bunting recommends starting seeds indoors before moving sprouts outside.
These are cut-and-come-again flowers, so the more you harvest, the more flowers you will have, she said.
Winslow adores the spicy kick hiding in their bright orange or sunny yellow blossoms.
“I like to mix the petals with fresh ricotta, dollop that on pizza and then drizzle it all with pesto,” she said.
