How to Use Edible Flowers

David Epstein: Hi, I’m David Epstein. This is Growing Wisdom. Here today at Johnny Selected Seeds in Albion, Maine. And I’m with Kelly Dionne and they're going to talk to us today about edible flowers. And maybe a bit of mystery to some folks that you can actually eat some flowers and might be a little bit apprehensive about this. Tell us about how easy this really is.

Kelly Dionne: It’s super easy. And what were standing behind right now is a bunch of salad greens that are bolted. The greens themselves aren’t what to what you would put in the salad at this point. The flowers are actually edible and taste like the greens themselves.

David Epstein: What sort of green get a flower that are edible?

Kelly Dionne: Almost anything that you would see in the mesclun greens mix.

David Epstein: This is like a value added product for some of those smaller farmers.

Kelly Dionne: Yes. Because it makes advantage of a crop that is actually gone by.

David Epstein: What are some of the other flowers that are out there that you can actually eat?

Kelly Dionne: Well, there are a whole lot of them. There is Nasturtiums, calendula, marigolds, squash blossoms, violas, borage. There is a whole list. They have very short shelf life. Ideally, you would pick from and you would put maybe a wet paper towel in a shallow dish and sat them on that.

David Epstein: Kelly, I think you mention you’re going to show me some additional flowers.

Kelly Dionne: Yes. We picked some this morning.

David Epstein: Alright, let’s go eat.

Kelly Dionne: Okay. So what we have here today is the selection of some of our most popular edible flowers. We’ll start with the borage. Here, it has a mild cucumber flavor. It can be used on salads. It can be used as a garnish on deserts. We also have bachelor buttons, another blue edible flower that many people have growing in their gardens. The violas are also a wonderful edible flower and they come in a range of colors from the tiny Johnny-Jump-Ups to the great big pansies.

Here we have calendula. This is one of the most popular edible flowers. It's referred to as calendula confetti because you actually would pull the petals off the flower and have this lovely flower petal confetti but you don’t eat the center part of the flower here and that’s so tasty. So it’s just the petals.

David Epstein: Okay. Okay. I know these guys. That’s nasturtium.

Kelly Dionne: Absolutely. They’re the number one edible flower that we offer. They’re peppery, nice spicy bite. Here we have squash blossom pick the male flowers at midday when they’re fully open. You store them like cut flowers in a glass of water.

David Epstein: This has been a wealth of information. How about a quick little summary?

Kelly Dionne: Okay. The most important things to remember are to pick them fresh early in the morning except for squash blossoms which should about midday. Make sure to store them in a refrigerated area, and use them promptly because they’re only going to last a couple of days.

David Epstein: Kelly, thanks a lot. Come back every week for all of our tips, hints and helps here at Growing Wisdom.