Edible Flowers

Flowers have been used as food by man for thousand of years. Ancients used the flowers as an ingredient for their cuisine and the tradition is still followed.

When used in food, flowers not only give a unique taste to the food but they also give beautiful appearance to the food.

Not every flower, however, is edible. Most flowers are poisonous and should not be eaten.

Those flowers that are edible have also some edible parts, like petals, that should be consumed other parts are inedible. But some flowers are also edible as a whole.

Some of the commonly used edible flowers are mentioned below:

Chive Flower

The chive flower belongs to the group of allium flower- flowers which can be eaten as a whole. The chive flowers have a mild onion like taste.

These are very small flowers and are used in the food to give it a mild onion like taste.

The flowers as not used much in salads as they are very small, but they are added chopped in omelets, stews and many other dishes. But mostly they are used in egg dishes and in soups.

The garlic flowers, as the name suggests are the flowers of the garlic plants.

They too like the Chive flowers belong to the Allium group and can be consumed as whole. The flowers have a garlic taste and essence and are used in salads to give the salad a garlicky taste.

Since the garlic cloves are very strong they can not be used in salads there fore these flowers are used if a touch of garlic is needed.    

The basil flowers have the same flavor as the basil leaves but they are milder.

The basil flowers are very small and white in color. They are mostly used in pastas and soups.

They too are used to give food a slight touch of basil flavor as the leaves have a strong flavor. 

Marigolds which are also called Calendula are one of the most commonly used edible flowers. The flowers are yellow and large and only the petals of the flower are edible, just like all the other large edible flowers.

The taste of marigold is quite similar to saffron. The petal of the flowers are used in a variety of dishes such as rice, meat, egg, pasta, stews, soups and even salads.

The flowers when mixed with liquids like milk give them a yellow color. The marigold milk is used as a home made remedy for alleviating pain.

The chamomile flowers are medium sized flowers with small white petals.

The petals of the flower have a sweet apple like taste.

The flowers are used in many sweet dishes but commonly used for making special chamomile teas.

The chrysanthemums are medium sized beautiful flowers with petals of different and striking colors such as red, pink and yellow.

The petals of the flowers which are edible have a bitter and a strong peppery taste.

They are used in salads to give a peppery taste to it and also give them a striking appearance. However one must always blanch the petals of the flowers before using.

The cilantro flowers are the flowers of the coriander plant. The flowers are almost medium sized and have white oval petals.

The flowers have a taste similar to the coriander leaves.

They are used in salads, vegetable dishes, in pulses and grains.

The dills are small flowers with minute green petals.

The leaves of the dill plants are also used as food but the flowers are most commonly used as they have a stronger flavor.

The dill flower is used as a herb in seafood dishes and salad dressings.

The hibiscus flowers are large sized petals with big, purple petals. Only the petals of the flowers are edible.

The petals have a citrus flavor and are commonly used in salads or for garnishing dishes.

The flavor of the hibiscus petals us very mild, hence they should be used sparingly.

The lavender is a beautiful flower with unique purple petals.

The flowers have a mild sweet flavor.

Due to its unique taste and mild sweet flavor the flower is used as a garnish for savory dishes such as stews as well as in sweet dishes such as custards.