July 2010
Edible Flowers

There is a colourful antidote for the winter blues: edible flowers! Use them in salads, snacks, drinks and desserts.
Planting an edible flower garden or incorporating edible flowers into your herb and vegetable garden should provide a few hours of pleasurable exercise in the mild winter sun. Pansies, violas, calendulas and English daisies (BELLIS perennis) are edible, as are the flowers of herbs like borage, fennel, dill, rocket, coriander and lavender. The flowers of oriental vegetables, including pak choi, tatsoi and Japanese red mustard, are also edible, so leave a few plants in the ground to produce flowers. In frost free areas you should still have nasturtiums, pelargoniums, roses and cornflowers blooming, and they can also be used to bring colour and flavour to the table.
When using flowers keep the dish simple, without too many other flavours so that the delicate taste of the flower is not overpowered, although you can experiment because some herb flowers can actually taste spicier than the leaves from their respective plants.

Dos and don’ts
- Don’t use pesticides, or else use products labelled for edible crops, making sure you observe the safety period (usually called a ‘withholding period’).
- Pick the flowers in the morning when their water content is at its highest. The flowers can be kept fresh in a glass of water or kept in the glass of water overnight in the refrigerator.
- Wash the flowers before eating and check for insects among the petals.
- Pansy and viola flowers can be eaten whole but for most other flowers it is better to remove the stamens and pistels. This can be done just before eating so that the petals don’t wilt.
- Don’t use a garnish of non-edible flowers on a salad containing edible flowers; most diners will assume that everything on the plate is edible.

Preparing the flowers
The best way to wash flowers is to put them in a strainer or sieve in a large bowl of water. Drain and dry the petals on paper towels. Flowers will keep the most colour and fragrance if they are able to dry quickly (but not in the sun). Limp flowers can be rejuvenated by floating them in icy water for a few minutes.

CALENDULA officinalis is a sun loving winter annual that grows in most soil types as well as in pots. Pinch out the tops to stop the plants becoming straggly and remove dead flowers to encourage more blooms. Use only the petals and discard the rest of the flower. Cut off the bitter white portion at the base of the petal where it was attached to the flower. An infusion can also be made from the petals and used to treat fungal infections.

Pansies (Viola x wittrockiana), violas (VIOLA cornuta), heartsease (VIOLA tricolor) and VIOLA odorata all have edible flowers, but the visual effect of these blooms in a dish is even more pleasing than their flavours. VIOLA tricolor also has healing properties and can be used to relieve coughs, colds and indigestion, plus it helps relieve certain skin conditions if applied in a cream base. Being smaller, viola flowers are a more delicate garnish while pansy flowers crystallise very well and can be eaten as sweets or used to decorate ice cream.

BELLIS perennis (English daisy) has petals with a pleasant, faintly sour taste. The petals and young leaves can be used to flavour vinegar and the buds, pickled in vinegar, can be used as a substitute for capers. The plant grows in full sun to semi shade, and does well in colder areas.

Tatsoi, pak choi, mizuna and Japanese giant red mustard all produce delicate yellow flowers that can be used in salads. Normally the plants should be prevented from flowering, but towards the end of winter allow them to flower and share the sprays of flowers with the bees – they are a source of nectar. The flowers have the same mustardy taste as the leaves. Oriental vegetables benefit from regular feeding in winter.

Borage (BORAGO officinalis) bears small bright blue star-shaped flowers that have a fresh, cucumber-like flavour. Borage flowers are often used to decorate drinks (in previous centuries they were added to wine as it was believed that they prevented drunkenness). They can also be used in salads and desserts. The plant has an informal growth habit and reaches a height of 60 cm. It is water-wise and grows easily in poor soil in a sunny spot.

Rocket (Eruca vesicaria subsp. sativa or E. sativa) is often grown in warm, frost-free gardens in winter, usually to be used as salad leaves. As temperatures rise it tends to bolt into flower. The creamy-beige coloured flowers also have a strong peppery taste and can be used alongside the leaves in salads and snacks.

Coriander (CORIANDRUM sativum) is frost tender but does well in warm sheltered gardens. Coriander tends to flower very easily and it is worth letting some plants flower so that the small sprays of mauve-white flowers can be used to garnish salads, soups and desserts and be incorporated into stir fries. The flowers echo the pungent taste of the leaves.

This article was compiled with information supplied by Healthy Living Herbs (www.healthyliving-herbs.co.za); the herbs mentioned are available from Healthy Living Herbs stands at garden centres.