Edible Flowers or the Food You Didn’t Know You Can Eat
Some of us are permanently trying new products and tastes but others are satisfied with the food they were used to all their lives. Some may skip to raw diet but the products to remain the same as before.
Add a zest to your meals by including new products that you didn’t even imagine are edible.
Did you ever think flowers can be edible too? Some of you did but the great majority will say that it’s too strange to eat flowers.
Here is a list of edible flowers and it’s not a complete list of them.
Dandelion greens may be consumed in salads along with unopened buds of the flower. Yellow flowers can be used to make wine but stems are considered not edible although some people consume the whole plant starting with roots. It is a stimulant for the internal organs the plant’s leaves being high in vitamin A.
Plantain can be found near marshes and bogs. The younger they are the better the taste. A mature plant will be more bitter in taste.
Daisy it’s an edible flower even if you thought that it’s only a cold and flu tea remedy. Flower buds and young leaves can be added to salads or eaten alone. Like dandelion daisies can be used to make wine.
Clovers are edible too and may be eaten raw, added in salads. Try to look for a five-leaved clover in your salad 🙂
Cattail is a long plant that can be usually found near freshwater rivers and ponds. Most of the plant itself is edible but the best part of it is the stem near the bottom where the stalk is white. The stem can be eaten raw and during the early summer you can break off the top of a cattail and eat it like corn.
Tiger Lilly plant can be consumed raw and are edible buds, tubers and flowers. The unopened buds are edible and have a peppery taste. Add all the parts of the plant in your salads. Tiger Lilly’s tubers have a sweet nutty taste and can be consumed just like potatoes.
Where to pick them?
Use only plants that where grown as edible and don’t buy them at a florist. You may choose to collect them in the lawns and fields but make sure that you choose the right plant. Don’t eat it if you’re not sure about plant’s provenance.
Warning:
Eat flowers you have grown yourself, or know to be safe for consumption.
Flowers from the florist or nursery have probably been treated with pesticides or other chemicals.
Do not eat roadside flowers or those picked in public parks. Both may have been treated with pesticide or herbicide, and roadside flowers may be polluted by car exhaust.
If you suffer from allergies, introduce edible flowers gradually, as they may exacerbate allergies.. Eat only the petals, and remove pistils and stamens before eating.
To keep flowers fresh, place them on moist paper towels and refrigerate in an airtight container. Some will last up to 10 days this way. Ice water can revitalize limp flowers.