Benefits of Adding Edible Flowers to Your Meals
Adding edible flowers to your meal indulges all your senses. They give dishes extraordinary visual appeal, add gorgeous aromas, offer a crunchy texture and sing with bright aromatic flavors. They can add sweetness, a pop of citrus, or spice.
There are few things better than being able to go into your own garden and pick fresh flowers to add straight to your dish. This allows you to get maximum freshness, flavor, and nutrition. Here we’ll look into the benefits of edible flowers and how to get them from your very own garden.
Edible Flower Health Benefits
Edible flowers are just like colorful herbs. They are packed with nutritional benefits. You might be surprised at the incredible range of edible flowers there are. Below are a handful of the most popular ones and their health benefits:
1. Calendula
Calendula flowers have soft, delicate petals and are commonly bright yellow, orange or orange-red. Calendula contains antioxidants and anti-inflammatory components. As a tea or extract, it also has numerous other benefits from protecting against infections to easing muscle fatigue. The flowers and leaves are both edible. The leaves are similar to dandelion greens with a bitter taste while the petals are milder with herbal peppery undertones.
2. Dandelion
Dandelions have yellow-orange flowers and are often considered to be weeds. The flowers and the greens are edible and are a great source of vitamin A, which promotes eye and skin health as well as immune support. The flowers can be used to make tea, added to sauces, pasta dishes, dips and salads.
3. Chrysanthemum
Chrysanthemums have been used in folk and Chinese medicine for many years to treat a wide range of ailments. The flowers themselves have powerful antioxidants that promote anti-inflammatory processes, detoxification and energy levels.
4. Nasturtium
Nasturtium flowers come in a variety of colors, including shades of red, yellow and orange. The entire plant is edible and rich in vitamin C and A and antioxidants. This is beneficial for eye and skin health. Nasturtium extracts have antibacterial and natural antibiotic properties.
With a mildly peppery taste, these flowers can be used in salads or to make pesto.
5. Sage flower
These purple-blue or white flowers are superb as a garnish on almost any dish. Traditionally they were used to treat gout, ulcers, diarrhea and inflammation. Consumption, even as tea, can promote cognitive health and help relieve heartburn.
6. Violets
Violets can be used to make tea and syrup but they’re also beautiful as garnishes for soups, salads and added to baked goods. They are high in vitamin A and C and have anti-fungal properties. When choosing violets to add to your dish, avoid the yellow ones since they can cause GI (gastrointestinal) upset.
Tips for Choosing Edible Flowers
A great way to ensure that the flowers you pick from your garden are indeed safe to eat is by getting an edible flower seed mix to plant. Even if you don’t have a big garden, you can plant them in pots or hanging planters.
Flowers used for consumption must be organic. This means they should never be treated with any chemicals or pesticides. This is one reason it’s always best to grow your own. It helps you stay in complete control of keeping them chemical free.
With so much visual appeal and nutritional value, we say it’s time to get some flowers on our plates.