Some flowers are edible and can make a beautiful garnish, plate decoration or delicious ingredient at your wedding breakfast. Flowers aren’t just the concern of florists; they are as much for pretty plates as they are for beautiful bouquets. Look to your garden for ingredient inspiration.
Examples of Edible Flowers and How to Use Them
- Crystallised violets and sugared rose petals add a delightful vintage touch to any dessert.
- Lavender flavoured biscotti with crème brulee or lamb marinated in lavender for a divine taste.
- Bright orange nasturtiums, marigold* petals, dandelion and tiny blue borage for garnishing salads.
- Courgette and squash flowers. Tempura and garnish a risotto or fill them with fresh crab meat as delicate canapés.
- Borage flowers — I can’t drink Pimm’s without them now. A word of advice for gardeners… plant carefully. Plant one borage plant and next year you will have ten.
- Hibiscus flower buds in glass cups, open into a beautiful tea.
- Daylily (lilies are poisonous but this isn’t a real lily). Fabulous if stripped into individual petals in a salad and also makes a great ingredient for an omelette.
- All herb flowers are edible, look pretty and are often more flavoured than the herb leaves.
- Chive flowers. Perfect to decorate delicate dishes such as smoked salmon parfait and cucumber salad.
- Pea shoots and bean flowers make for sophisticated toppings for sea bass.
- Camomile. Keep calm with freshly brewed tisanes.
- Bergamot. Amazing deep red and really useful in rice and pasta dishes, with pork or as a vibrant topping to salads.
Flowers You Should Not Use…
NEVER use the following flowers as garnishes or décor:
- Foxglove
- Daffodil
- Crocus
- Lily of the valley
If in doubt, don’t eat it!
*Be aware that asthmatics may suffer allergies to daisies and marigolds.
You can also use fresh, edible flowers on your wedding cake.
Guest post from Julie Gray of Bovingdons
Image from Flickr by Breville USA (CC BY 2.0 License)
