Edible Flowers in the Garden

When is National Garden Month?

The month of April is always National Garden Month

Are there other related Holidays? Yes!

_____________________________________________________

Growing Edible Flowers in your Garden

I was first hit with the love of flowers in the garden from Grandmaw.

She had them planted all over the place and I can still remember what a treat it was to mingle through all the blooms and blossoms touching and smelling in amazement. Grandmaw said flowers were good for everything. You just had to remember which ones were used for what. She cooked with them, canned with them and healed with them. I can still see Grandman breaking off a part of the aloe plant to put on our burns and many times I watched Grandmaw pull off a flower and putting it in her mouth. Grandmaw always said there were

"flowers for eating and herbals for healing."

Common Edible Flower List

Many people love to garden for the beauty of flowers but not many people grow flowers for eating. It's amazing how flowers have been used for centuries as food, spices, healing and in teas but the art of growing edible flowers in the garden seemed to vanish. It's almost as if it went out of fashion. I'm happy to say with the strong increase of people going back to nature and learning about holistic living, it has now become the fashion again. We are learning how eating the natural way is healthier for us. We are learning the beneffits of organic growing and how to use flowers in our salads, in flavored oils, dried and used for seasoning, used in drinks, jellies and syrups, chopped and placed in soups and stews.

As a flavoring

Wikipedia tell us that "Enjoyment of edible flowers does not have to be seasonal. Flower butter made with flower petals can be frozen for up to three months. Flower oils will also keep for up to three months. These oils can be made with edible flower petals steeped in sunflower oil, olive oil, or other oils for about a week and then removed. Different edible flowers and oils can be used to create unique flavors. Edible flower petals can also be steeped in vinegar for three to four weeks and then removed. The flower vinegar can then be used in dressing or whenever vinegar would normally be used. Edible flowers can also be frozen with water in a standard ice-cube tray. The flower ice-cubes can be left frozen and used in drinks or any other dish that would normally contain ice-cubes. Edible flowers can be blended into sugar for about one week (and then sifted out), leaving the storable sugar flavored for future use. Edible flowers can also be crystallized using egg white and sugar. The candied flowers can be eaten individually or used as a garnish for a cake; but only remain fresh for about two days.

_____________________________________________________

Common Edible Flowers