During the summer months in Michigan I love to use these little gems of summer in my cooking. I have a number of recipes where I have used edible flowers and I will not list them all except for the ones below. As my edible flowers bloom I will add pictures and suggestions on what to do with them. Here are some ways to enjoy edible flowers in your cooking:
- flavor honey, jelly or vinegars
- add dried buds such as lavender to sugar for a scant touch of flavor
- steep chamomile flowers for tea, or use a combo of mint and lemon verbena
- make lemonade flavored with lavender
- garnish cakes and other desserts
- use in all kinds of desserts and sauces such as cookies or brownies
- make bread flavored with rosemary
- garnish entrees
- use in all kinds of savory dishes
- make candied flowers using Johnny Jump-Ups
- blend flowers such as calendula into butter or other dairy products (adds color)
- make ice cubes using various small flowers or petals
- use in salads or soups
- use with fruit such as pineapple sage
- float them in a pretty punch
- fennel adds a an anise taste when roasted with fish or pork
- how about lavender buds in mashed potatoes
- syrups for sorbets or beverages; blend roses or violets with equal parts sugar and water
Edible flowers have a wide range of flavors and aromas such as citrusy (tagetes marigolds); piquant (bee balm, nasturtium); bitter (calendula) floral (violets) and perfumery (lavender and rose). The blossoms of herbs or plants such as chives simply taste like the milder versions of the parts of the plants we eat.
The following are the edible flowers/herbs I am growing this year:
BASIL
Pesto Basil
Thai Basil – Red flowers starting to form. A milder form of the leaves, use to garnish salads or tomatoes
BEE BALM
BORAGE
Flower petals of borage and calendula added to a simple tossed salad.
CALENDULA
As a garnish for Chiles Rellenos Casserole
CHAMOMILE (the white flowers)
Chamomile Tea – a very mild floral taste.
CHIVES
How about cupcakes using chives?
DILL
Flowers and sprigs of dill are good stuffed in a rainbow trout!
FENNEL
Looks very similar to dill; foliage and seeds except it has a mild licorice flavor with a sweet perfume and it is a larger plant. Good in any salad especially a potato salad.
VIOLAS/JOHHNY-JUMP-UPS
Candied flowers Ice cubes
Flower Garden Brie Chocolate Cake with Ganache Frosting
LAVENDER
Strawberry jam Lemonade and Lemonade Spritzer
June 19, 2013 – full bloom! Honey
Buds (whole) and ground for recipes Lavender sugar (light blue) for baking
LEMON VERBENA
MARIGOLDS
Tagetes – Lemon and Tangerine Gem
MINT
NASTURTIUM
Decorations for my Strawberry Cream Cake
OREGANO
Pretty white flowers… add to any Italian dish…
PANSIES
ROSEMARY
ROSES
SAGE PINEAPPLE
SAGE REGULAR
SAGE VARIGATED
SAVORY
Summer Savory – light pink flowers
Winter Savory
SCENTED GERANIUMS
Apple Cider
Variegated Nutmeg
TARRAGON
This herb has delicate greenish flowers that is good in any dish that needs tarragon. The flowers are just as tasty as the green leaves. See my recipe Tomato Soup Concentrate.
THYME REGULAR (delicate white flowers)
THYME LEMON (delicate light pink flowers)
Violas, edible marigolds and nasturtiums mixed in with parsley, thyme and zinnias…
I would like to have permission to use your delightful calendula biscuit photo for a post I’m writing – would it be possible if I list your site as credit? Thanks, Shawna
Of course you can – I appreciate your asking me. Calendulas are so beautiful and reseed every where. I need to update this post as I have other recipes I need to add. Would you give me your blog’s name? so I can see what you have written? Thanks, Judi
Thank you Judi – so appreciated. I won’t be publishing the story until August, but have prewritten it. When the time comes you can see the story on my primary blog. Here’s a link to my site – http://www.shawnacoronado.com. Thanks so very much! I really appreciate it. 🙂