Edible Flowers (and Recipes)

By Cindy Naas

Adding brightly colored blossoms to a fresh garden salad is nothing but frivolous.

And fun, and something I love to do.

After seeing the price of freshly packaged edible salad flowers in the grocery store, I’m glad I plant a few kinds in my own garden.

Here rre a few which are easy to grow, pretty in bloom, and that make a great addition to your salad bowl:

Nasturtiums - These are probably my favorite edible flower. They have a spicy, peppery flavor which goes well with bitter greens such as romaine and arugula. They are also prolific bloomers and do really well in pots. For a city gardener, nasturtiums give you the most bang for your buck.

Chive flowers - these beautiful pale lavender flowers can be the only contrast in a plate of mixed greens and still look and taste fantastic. Chive flowers don’t rebloom and their season is short, but they are a welcome addition to a salad. Their oniony flavor adds a fresh taste to any salad.

Pansies - These are the prettiest salad flowers in my opinion. They come in many colours and are really bright and cheerful. I’m not a big fan of the flavor, thy are rather bland. However, added to a salad with lots of different veggies, the look of them is worth it since the flavor will be added by veggies.

Rose petals - These can have a very perfumy taste. In the right recipe this can be good, but I find that roses don’t work well in mixed green salads. Instead, I save these for fruit salads. Try using several colors of rose petals when serving them for a beautiful addition to a dessert.

Here are a few recipes for using edible flowers:

Bitter Greens with Nasturtiums

• 1/2 small head of romaine lettuce
• 1/2 head of red leaf lettuce
• handful of radicchio
• handful of arugula
• 10 to 15 nasturtium flowers
• handful of blueberries, sliced strawberries or 4 fresh figs, sliced
• olive oil
• balsamic vinegar

Arrange the greens on a serving platter and dress with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil and of balsamic vinegar. Add salt and freshly ground pepper and mix thoroughly. On top of dressed greens, arrange the fruit and nasturtium blossoms, and serve immediately.

Melon Salad with Mint and Roses

• 1 medium cantaloupe
• 1/2 honeydew
• 2 tablespoons fresh mint
• small handful of fresh rose petals
• 4 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
• 1 tsp. honey

Cut melons into cubes or use a melon baller. Dress with chopped mint, orange juice and honey. Sprinkle rose petals over the top.

3 Responses to “Edible Flowers (and Recipes)”

1. Caryn Webb Says:
   July 27th, 2008 at 11:49 am

   Nasturtiums have very tasty leaves as well. I think they taste a lot like radishes. I use the leaves (some varieties have really large leaves) on hamburgers and other sandwiches in place of lettuce. I discovered this works by accident on day when I was craving some green on my burger and had run out of lettuce. It was great and looked really pretty on the bun. I put the Nasturtium leaf on the bottom of the bun then the tomato then the burger and onions. MMMMMMMM!

2. Cindy Says:
   July 31st, 2008 at 8:47 am

   Caryn, thanks for the tip!

3. Real-life garden spells « Read with Me Says:
   August 28th, 2008 at 12:38 pm

   [...] Urban Garden Casual’s Edible Flowers (and Recipes) [...]

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