Green salad with borage and nasturtiums
I bet you eat edible flowers all the time and don’t even realize it. Because if you’re a fan of broccoli, cauliflower or artichokes, you are consuming the flowering bud of the plant. I’m always late in the game when it comes to picking my broccoli and find it produces these lovely yellowish flowers when overgrown. Although too bitter to eat at this point, I’m tempted to stick my flowered broccoli stems in a vase- if that didn’t seem so dorky. So today, I thought we’d take a pictorial edible flower tour. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, appetizer, drink or dessert; the options are endless and inspiring. Let’s eat flowers because they are pretty, useful, tasty, fun, unusual and best of all….just because we can! And it’s not like you’re making a meal out of a flower, these are edible novelties intended to beautify your food and drink. They have faces….cute flower faces, yes? Some of the most popular flowers and my favorites are pansies, nasturtiums and borage. Here’s some inspiration to get you started on the right path.
homemade popsicles with edible flowers
Why flowers?
Pansies, nasturtiums and borage are edible flowers that add color and life to any dish. Use them in fruit salads, green salads, quinoa and spinach salads. Top cakes, cupcakes or ice cream with candied varieties. Garnish soups, cheeses or hors d’oeuvres with them. Decorate puddings, mousses and gelato with clusters of petals. Or, freeze the flowers into ice cubes for iced tea, lemonade or just plain water to add depth and beauty. And don’t forget to use them in popsicles just for fun. Forget that cherry on top of the ice cream sundae, use a pansy face instead!
What do flowers taste like?
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Pansies, violas, johnny-jump-ups
Unlike some edible flowers, you can eat the whole pansy, including stamen, pistil and all. If you eat just the petals, I find the flavor to be quite mild, sweet and almost grassy. But if you eat the whole flower, there is a wintergreen bite to it. |
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Nasturtiums
A whiff of a nasturtium reveals a sweet fragrance. But munching on it reveals a bold, peppery tang. If you like both the sweet and spiciness of watercress, you will love the taste of a nasturtium. The spicy flavor makes it an ideal choice for soups, stews, and salads. |
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Borage
Has lovely cornflower blue star-shaped flowers that have a cool, faint cucumber taste. Petals have that cucumber taste while the stamens add a bit of sweetness. |
Edible flowers for breakfast
Pancakes with pansies imprinted on them. Breakfast doesn’t get any prettier than this.
French toast and strawberries, garnished with mint and violas.
What a way to start your day ~ crepes with strawberries and borage accents.
Edible flower appetizers
Canapés with avocado paste and borage.
Cucumber toast with borage which also gives off a cucumber vibe.
Pomegranate and cheese toast with a pansy topper.
Edible flowers in salads
Mixed green salad with smoked salmon, strawberries, colored bell peppers and pansies. Lots of eye-popping color!
Flowers and herbs always make a great garnish for cheese.
Green salad with dandelions and blue pansies.
Edible flowers in soup
Single nasturtium in cucumber soup. Because of their peppery taste, nasturtiums pair perfectly with soup!
With flowers, you can even make goulash look appetizing.
Edible flower smoothies
Chia fruit smoothie with mango and johnny-jump-up topper.
Green smoothie is complimented with the bold, orange nasturtium.
Edible flowers on ice
Does it get anymore refreshing than lemon and flowers?
Flower ice cubes are a must-have at any bridal or baby shower.
Edible flowers for dessert
Tartlett with white currents and blueberries and johnny-jump-ups garnish.
Mini spicy cheesecakes with violas make a lovely dessert.
Raspberry tarts with a single nasturtium petal.
Warning….!!!
The flowers you use need to be organically grown and fit for human consumption. No fertilizers or pesticides will do. You don’t want to eat flowers bought from garden centers, nurseries or even the local florist. Grow your own from seed. Wash like you would any delicate salad green. Very carefully. And quite honestly, if your flowers are 100% organic then I wouldn’t obsess over washing them as they are so fragile!
A last bit of advice? Pick flowers in the morning before the dew has dried. And petals need to be eaten after a few hours of picking or they just wilt up. (If you were placing them on a cake or on a mousse dessert for example.)
Enjoy!
Which recipe do you want to try first?
The edible flowers really make the food look so pretty! I especially love the popsicles.
I love the popsicles.
I had no idea that a lot of these were edible. Some would be so cute for a wedding or party! I especially like the Canapés with avocado paste and borage 🙂
Those popsicles are beautiful. The colors would have made them match my wedding perfectly.
looks great
love the popsicles! its awesome
I recently tried edible flowers & other microgreens!! Really enjoyed & impressed ❣️
The homemade popsicles looks so beautiful and so do the others. It has been so hot this Summer.. so this would be something that I would love to try first.
I love the way the edible flowers look. They make everything look so pretty!
Wow, gorgeous! Would love to try this one: French toast and strawberries, garnished with mint and violas
They are all so pretty, but I just can’t get myself to eat a flower.
i came,i went,i farted
I really like the flowers frozen as popsiscles
I love lavender especially in cocktails and cakes!
Cheesecake & Raspberry Tarts look amazing. Yum.
A fun way to add a unique look and taste to dishes for sure. 🙂
The edible flowers really make food look pretty, but I’m still too nervous to eat a flower. I just felt comfortable enough recently to eat my herb leaves I planted in the garden. I’m always afraid I’m going to eat the wrong thing and get sick.
they are too pretty to eat
It all looks too pretty to eat! I think I’d rather keep it on display.
Those edible flower popsicles are gorgeous!
Pretty and edible, perfect.
These ideas are so beautiful! Thank you for the tips and ideas,
Looks so pretty, I had a hard time eating flowers so this really helped, thank you for the great info!
Tried in Thailand.
Awesome
Too pretty to eat 🙂
Always adds a flair to any meal, use them in my salads from time to time