Edible flowers

Oct 24, 2019 19:43:30

I was on a kick of planting only edible species in the yard and not planting 'frivolous' things like flowers (yeah, I know, lots of reasons other than edibility to plant them) when I discovered that a farmer on my island was retiring and selling off a lot of dahlia tubers for 25 cents each. I justified my purchase on the grounds that dahlia tubers are edible. Since then I've decided, to heck with it, I will plant what I like whether it's edible or not.

But, I am still interested in edibles and thought it would be fun to start a list of 'flowers' that are typically grown for their visual appeal (and for attracting pollinators) but that have an additional permaculture function of being edible - not just starvation-edible but tasty and perhaps also good for you - and what parts are edible. Here are a few, just off the top of my head. I'm sure you-all can add more!

Dahlia - tuber
Sunchoke - tuber
Sunflower - seed
Rose - petals
Lavender - petals
Violets - petals, leaves
Nasturtiums - leaves
Amaranth (e.g., love-lies-bleeding) - leaves, seeds
California poppy - leaves
Hosta - leaves
Chives - leaves, flowers
Daylily - flowers

Oct 24, 2019 20:31:35

I don’t plant flowers unless they are doing double duty. Food and pretty or it is not worth my space. I love and grow a number of the ones you listed but I also have a few others.

Borage is great and tastes like cucumber.
Gladiolus petals. Bland but good. Remove the anthers and just use the petals.
Musk mallow is really pretty and easy to grow.
Bachelor Buttons (a.k.a. Cornflowers) are easy to grow and pretty and good tasting.
My neighbor likes eating snap dragons.

I love nibbling flowers, putting them in salads, and Thai rolls. Occasionally as garnish. I eat them regularly and enjoy them. To me it is a crop with more enjoyment then something like lettuce.

Oct 25, 2019 20:22:27

I love flowers and have them growing everywhere. In my veggie garden I only plant flowers that are eatable. I want my kids to be able to eat anything in there. I found these two amazing web sights, I was blown away by the list, I had know idea you could eat so many. I hope you enjoy them.

https://whatscookingamerica.net/EdibleFlowers/EdibleFlowersMain.htm This is the most extensive list I have seen. There may be bigger, but this is impressive.

https://www.westcoastseeds.com/blogs/garden-wisdom/list-of-edible-flowers This isn't quite as large, and a lot of the same flowers, but it has a picture of each flower, and I liked that.

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