Beginners Guide to Edible Flowers

Beginners Guide to Edible Flowers

by | Sep 30, 2021 | Garden, Grow guide, Spring, Summer, Uncategorized

Edible flowers offer so many beneficial relationships within a home garden. When creating a sustainable permaculture garden, everything should have multiple functions and uses. The more the better! Edible flowers not only look beautiful, but they also aid in pollination, provide food and habitat to beneficial insects for pest management, add diversity to the soil and provide food, and in some cases, offer medicinal qualities for us.

Without adequate pollination, crops may be smaller, less abundant or may not produce at all. So, it is important that we attract pollinators to our gardens to increase yields along with the quality of produce.

Note: not all flowers are edible. Make sure you identify them correctly. Do not eat flowers from florists or areas unknown, as they may have been sprayed with pesticides. The safest option is to grow your own.

Why Grow Edible Flowers?

  • Attract beneficial insects to your garden for natural pest management
  • Attract pollinators to increase harvests
  • Create diversity in the garden
  • Add colour and aesthetics to your garden
  • Have subtle, delicate flavours
  • Add nutrients to your meals
  • Living ground cover to protect the soil
  • Have medicinal qualities
  • Create beautiful aesthetic dishes

How to Harvest Edible Flowers?

Pick your edible flowers in the morning but after the sun has come up. First thing in the morning the flowers will still be closed, so wait until they fully open up. They will be at their best in the morning, full of life and well-hydrated. If you are serving them fresh, pick your edible flowers as close to serving time as possible. Otherwise, place stems in a jar of water or keep in a moistened towel somewhere cool.

Read How to Preserve Edible Flowers – click here

A-Z Top Edible Flowers

Flowers for the bees

Borage

Borago Officinalis

Sow Spring to Autumn

  • Edible flowers
  • Great living ground cover to protect the soil and drop leaves for added nutrients
  • Very popular with the bees!
  • Great for salads and cocktail garnishes

best edible flowers

Calendula

Calendula officinalis

Sow Spring to Autumn

  • Edible petals and leaves (leaves are a bit bitter)
  • Medicinal properties
  • Attracts pollinators
  • Often used as natural dye
  • Vibrant coloured edible petals that look striking as garnishes.

Cornflower

Centaurea Cyanus

Sow Spring & summer

  • Edible petals – no flavour
  • Great living ground cover to protect the soil and drop leaves for added nutrients
  • Attracts pollinators
  • Dry the petals and use as cocktail garnishes or floral salt, tea anything really they are amazing!

chive

Chive Flowers

Allium schoenoprasum

Sow Spring to Autumn

  • Edible flowers (mild chive flavour) and leaves
  • Press the petals or let them dry naturally to use throughout the year
  • Great for pollination
  • Culinary herb – try infusing in vinegar for salad dressings
  • Deter pests for natural pest management

feijoa flower

Feijoa Flowers

Acca sellowiana

Flowers in Spring

  • Edible petals – subtle strawberry flavour
  • Fruit trees that produce sweet green fruit
  • Edible hedge option
  • Attracts small birds and bees for pollination
  • Only select a few to eat as this may reduce fruit crops

fennel

Fennel Flowers

Foeniculum vulgare

Sow Spring & summer

  • Edible flowers, leaves and bulb
  • Attract both bees and butterflies to the garden
  • Anise or liquorice flavour pairs well with pasta and savoury dishes
  • Flowers look like popping Fireworks

hollyhock

Hollyhock

Alcea rosea

Sow Late Summer & Autumn

  • Edible petals
  • Press the petals or let them dry naturally to use throughout the year
  • Attracts Bees, Butterflies and Birds
  • Tall Striking flowers
  • Great for stuffing

hibiscus

Hibiscus

Hibiscus rosa-sinensis

Bloom Spring to Autumn

  • Edible Flowers – citrus notes
  • Press or air dry to preserve
  • Attracts Bees, Butterflies and Birds
  • Medicinal properties
  • Used for teas, jams and garnishes

lavender

English Lavender

Lavandula angustifolia

Blooms Spring & Summer

  • Edible flowers – can be very pungent
  • Attracts Bees and Butterflies
  • Fragrant flowers – pairs well with citrus
  • Dried flowers can be used for teas, baking, fragrance, skincare
  • Medicinal properties

marigold

Marigold

Tagetes patula

Sow Spring to Autumn

  • Edible petals only – peppery can be bitter
  • Strong aroma deters pests
  • Attracts Pollinators to the garden
  • Brighten up the garden

Nasturtium

Tropaeolum Majus

Sow Spring to Autumn

  • Edible flowers , leaves, stem and seeds
  • Peppery flavour
  • Great pollinators
  • Medicinal properties
  • Chicken & animal feed
  • Nasturtiums make great living mulch

best edible flowers

Pansy

Viola Wittrockiana

Sow Spring to Autumn

  • Edible Flowers
  • Press or air dry to preserve
  • Attracts Pollinators to the garden
  • Add fresh to salads or garnishes
  • Crystallise for baking and cakes

pumpkin

Pumpkin

Cucurbita Maxima

Blooms Spring & Summer

  • Edible flowers – choose male (no small pumpkin at the base) or you will not get pumpkins!
  • Attracts Bees
  • Can be eaten raw, stir-fried, stuffed or battered
  • Added nutritional value

rose

Rose

Rosa

Boom Spring to Autumn

  • Edible petals and buds – flavour varies
  • Some have strong scents
  • Attracts Pollinators to the garden
  • Great cut flowers
  • Drinks, baking, jams, sugars

rosemary

Rosemary

Salvia rosmarinus

Blooms mainly Spring to Autumn

  • Edible Flowers – subtle rosemary flavour
  • Medicinal properties
  • Attracts Pollinators to the garden
  • Add fresh to salads, pickles, baking or garnishes

snapdragon

Snapdragon

Antirrhinum Majus

Sow Spring to Autumn

  • Edible flowers
  • Bright vibrant colours
  • Attracts Pollinators to the garden
  • Can be eaten raw in salads or garnish
  • Added nutritional value

Flowers for the bees

Sunflowers

Helianthus Annuus

Sow Spring & summer

  • Edible petals and seeds
  • Press the petals or let them dry naturally to use throughout the year.
  • The bees LOVE sunflowers and so do the birds
  • Sunflowers remove toxins from the soil
  • Tall and don’t take up much space.

zinnia

Zinnia

Zinnia Elegans

Sow Spring & summer

  • Edible petals – slightly bitter
  • Lush green leaves that are great for beneficial insects to live
  • Beautiful stand out cut flowers. The more you cut Zinnia, the more flowers they produce
  • Attract both bees and butterflies to the garden
  • Vibrant coloured edible petals that look striking as garnishes

How to use Edible Flowers?

  • Herbal Teas
  • Cocktail Garnish
  • Infused oils
  • Infused Vinegar
  • Cake decorating
  • Every day meal garnishing
  • Salads
  • Botanical Salts
  • Arts and crafts
  • Bath bombs or decoration
  • Hand scrubs
  • Infused spirits
  • Healing body balms and lotions
best edible flowers
best edible flowers
edible flower salt
fennel frond

More on Edible Flowers

Botanical Shortbread

Botanical Shortbread

Beautiful and delicious floral shortbread with subtle flavours of orange and thyme….

How to Preserve Edible Flowers

How to Preserve Edible Flowers

by | Feb 11, 2021 | Kitchen, Preserving, Uncategorized

I grow a lot of edible flowers in my urban permaculture garden. That way, I not only have plenty of flowers for the bees, but also lots of beautiful edibles to brighten up any meal. Edible flowers have so many health benefits and valuable nutritional qualities. Flowers don’t often last long on the plant and a great way to preserve and harness their energy is to press or dry them. This way you can make infused oils, herbal teas and still have beautiful bright flowers to use throughout the year.

What Time of Day is Best to Pick Edible Flowers?

Pick your edible flowers in the morning but after the sun has come up. First thing in the morning the flowers will still be closed so wait until they fully open up. They will be at their best in the morning, full of life and well hydrated. Throughout the day they can lose moisture and become damaged by insects or wind. Make sure you select flowers that you know don’t have any chemicals or sprays on them. I only use flowers I have grown in my backyard as I can have more control over their surroundings.

CORNFLOWERS
best edible flowers

Should you Dry the Whole Flower or just the Petals?

You can do both! If the flower has a thick base or bud I tend to remove the petals. Flowers such as Sunflower and Hibiscus, I usually remove the petals. The base will take a very long time to dry and most of the time will not be palatable/hard and bitter. Calendula has many healing properties in the base, leave this on if you are going to use it for infused oils and balms.

Air Drying Flowers Naturally

The main way that I preserve my edible flowers is to air dry them naturally. I keep a bowl or plate in my pantry and add petals and flowers to it regularly. Each time I go out to the garden to pick veggies, I will pick edible flowers as well. If I don’t use them fresh in my meals I will just pop them aside to dry. It is very hot and dry here in Perth, Australia during the summer, so they will dry within a couple of days. If you live in a humid or cool climate or it is winter, it would be best to oven-dry or use a dehydrator. You want to get the flowers as dry as possible with no moisture left. This is to prevent them from going mouldy or growing bacteria.

Oven drying flowers

Turn your oven on to 40-50degrees Celcius and spread your flowers out on a tray. If your flowers have thick buds or bases it will be best to separate them out and just dry the petals. This may take a while depending on the size and moisture levels of your flowers. It may take around 4-6 hours and gently turn and mix your flowers around during that time to help them dry evenly.

Drying flowers in the dehydrator

Lay your flowers out flat on a tray and turn your dehydrator on to 40-50 degrees Celcius. It will depend on the moisture levels and size of your flowers but it will take between 4-6 hours to dry. Make sure they are completely dry and they may sound crunchy to touch.

edible flowers
preserve flowers

Pressing Edible Flowers

Another way I like to preserve my edible flowers is to press them. You can do this with any flower press or to press flowers without a flower press, simply place your flowers between sheets of paper or a notepad and stack some heavy books on top. Press whole flowers or petals but if the bud or base of the flower is quite thick, I would remove it and just press the petals. Pressing flowers will take a while to ensure that they are completely dry. Depending on your temperatures and climate it can take between 2-4 weeks to dry your edible flowers.

How to Store Edible Flowers

Once your flowers are completely dry you can store them in an airtight container out of sunlight. I keep all my air-dried flowers in jars in my pantry. My pressed flowers that I want to keep intact, I store in a glass container with a bit of paper towel. In dry conditions, these will last quite a while. I have some from a year ago that are still great.

preserved flowers

How to use Dried Edible Flowers?

There are so many ways to use your dried flowers. Here are some of my favourite ways to use them.

  • Herbal Teas
  • Cocktail Garnish Mixes
  • Infused oils
  • Infused Vinegar
  • Cake decorating
  • Everyday meal garnishing
  • Botanical Salts
  • Arts and crafts
  • Bath bombs or decoration
  • Hand scrubs
  • Infused spirits
  • Healing body balms
drying edible flowers
salt and vinegar beetroot chips

WATCH my Video on How to Preserve Edible Flowers

YouTube video

Holly 🌱

MY GARDENING ESSENTIALS //
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More gardening tools: https://bit.ly/32IQmbD

DISCLAIMER: Links included in this description might be affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service with the links that I provide I may receive a small commission. There is no additional charge to you! Thank you for supporting my page so I can continue to provide you with free content!

Edible Flower Salt

Edible Flower Salt

by | Feb 7, 2021 | Kitchen, Preserving, Uncategorized

I jump at any chance to use edible flowers in my dishes and this edible flower fairy salt is one of my favourites! Edible flowers are a great, easy way to add wow factor to any dish. Cornflowers (Centaurea cyanus) are so vibrant and have been abundance in my garden this summer. This recipe helps preserve their stunning colours and I can use them on my dishes throughout the year.

Fairy salt would be a great way to get kids involved with garden to plate cooking. Foraging for edible flowers, drying them and making fairy salt.

Edible Flower Salt is so EASY with only two ingredients!

You could use any edible flowers for this but cornflowers are the perfect size and colour. They lose their colour when they are left to dry on the plant so I feel better about picking them.

cornflowers
edible flowers

edible flower salt

Edible Flower Fairy Salt

Yield: 1/2 cup
Prep Time: 5 days
Additional Time: 2 minutes
Total Time: 5 days 2 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup Salt Flakes
  • 2 TBSP dried Cornflowers

Instructions

  1. Pick cornflowers (Centaurea cyanus) and gently pull the petals from the bud. Lay them out flat on a plate. Leave them to dry completely for 5 days turning them regularly to release moisture. To speed up this process you could put them in the oven on low (40-50degrees Celcius) to dry.
  2. Place salt flakes into an airtight jar. Mix through the dried cornflowers.
  3. Serve on meals as a finishing salt.
© sustainableholly
Category: Kitchen

Serving Suggestions

I have been using this edible flower salt to brighten up so many of my meals. Simple eggs on toast become a little more magical with a dusting of this flower salt. I also made some delicious salt and vinegar beetroot chips and this salt was the perfect addition.

salt and vinegar beetroot chips
Salt and Vinegar Beetroot Chips with Edible Flower Salt

DIY Gift Idea

I have also made up small jars as gifts to friends. A small simple gesture can go such a long way. I want to get in the habit of taking a small gift whenever I visit friends and family. Whether that is some preserved produce, cuttings, seedling or some saved seeds. You never know how much a spark of inspiration can cause a ripple effect in someone’s life.

Holly 🌱

WATCH Edible Flower Salt and Beet Chips Below

MY GARDENING ESSENTIALS //
Fertiliser spray gun: https://bit.ly/366nL1t
Retractable Hose: https://bit.ly/2TSC0Bo
More gardening tools: https://bit.ly/32IQmbD

DISCLAIMER: Links included in this description might be affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service with the links that I provide I may receive a small commission. There is no additional charge to you! Thank you for supporting my page so I can continue to provide you with free content!