Some perennial plants also have edible flowers. One of our favourite summer dishes is a Pimms Jelly which is set with fruit and borage flowers.Ĭalendulas have lovely big orange and yellow daisy heads and just the petals are used, sprinkled like saffron strands adding a mild citrus flavour to dishes. Violas have dainty little faces and a mild flavour and are frequently used to decorate cakes because they are very easy to crystalise. Whilst all of these are annuals, they readily seed themselves around the garden meaning that you can enjoy them year after year.īorage flowers have a mild sweet cucumber flavour and are traditionally set in ice cubes or floated in glasses of summer Pimms. Some of the most common are borage, calendula, nasturtium and viola, all of which can be started off either in seed modules in the greenhouse or directly sown into the garden soil in spring. The easiest way to start with edible flowers is to grow some yourself. Likewise, do not collect edible flowers from the sides of roads where they can absorb exhausts fumes and, for obvious reasons, refrain from picking flowers from the edge of footpaths that are frequented by dog walkers!Ī final thing to bear in mind is that on rare occasions, some people have proved to be allergic to edible flowers, particularly in the case of people with severe pollen allergies.Ĭommon sense precautions out of the way, now for the fun bit… Shutterstock It’s a sad fact that more than 80% of flowers sold in the UK are imported and most are treated before coming into the country. These may have been treated with pesticides and herbicides that can be toxic if eaten. Please do check before eating anything from your garden.įor the same reason do not eat any flowers purchased from garden centres, nurseries, supermarkets or florists. Red runner bean flowers are edible but not the white ones. Also, even a knowledgeable gardener can be caught out because there are anomalies within plant groups, for example garden pea flowers are edible but not sweet pea flowers.
Whilst edible flowers are utterly wonderful and I can’t encourage you enough to grown some, not all flowers are edible and there are some poisonous ones that if eaten could make you very ill. The English Garden’s 20th Anniversary cake by The Blushing Cook With such beautiful options available they are well worth considering growing as they also make a fabulous addition to the garden.
However, there are a huge range of flowers that you can eat which are all completely different in flavour and utterly delicious and they are becoming the ‘must have’ ingredient for chefs and home cooks alike. Nothing could have been more fitting for such an auspicious celebration.Įdible flowers are a brilliant and completely underrated ingredient in the kitchen because many are unsure which you can eat and how best to grow them and use them. Edible flowers are a hugely popular culinary decoration and when The English Garden Magazine recently celebrated its 20 th Birthday, a stunning cake was made for us by The Blushing Cook decorated with beautiful edible flowers.