Edible Flowers

Ever think about eating flowers from your garden? Many of them just might be edible, but which ones? Following are a few of the blossoms that we eat from our yard: The bright colors and spicy, peppery flavor of the nasturcium flower makes it a favorite for topping a fresh green salad with.

Chive blossoms are great to make flavored vinegars. The buds are also particularly good in a fresh salad, imparting a mild onion flavor.
Calendula (Pot Marigold) add bright and cheerful color to a green salad, though they don't lend much flavor.
Johnny Jump-ups (Viola) can also add color to a salad, but mostly they are candied and used for cake decoration.
Edible Chrysanthemum not only adds color, but also gives off a slight peppery flavor to a green salad.

Borage has no discernible taste that I can tell, but is a cute and pretty blue flower to add to salads. It is more often frozen into ice cubes to add fun to a cold drink. Bergamot. Boy, do they ever smell delicious! I am not really sure how to use these besides in salads. Any suggestions out there?

Wild Violet. Add to salads. Mainly I use the wild violet to make a throat-soothing syrup from. If anyone is interested, I will blog the recipe.

Roses...........

of all colors and varieties..........
Candy them, salad them or make a wonderful Rose Jelly from the old-fashion scented ones.
Pansies can also be candied for decorations on cakes, cheesecakes, etc. Toss them into a salad, too!
A lovely, fresh garden salad made from home-grown goodies :-)
Lavender may seem an unlikely edible flower, and though it has a distinctive flowery flavor, an entire culinary market has developed from it! I have made cookies and barbecued chicken with it, both very tasty. My cookbook collection does indeed sport an entire cookbook devoted simply to lavender recipes. Here is the one I used and enjoyed:

Barbecued Lavender Chicken

5 pounds chicken pieces

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup fresh or dried lavender blossoms

2 cloves garlic, minced

2/3 cup prepared barbecue sauce

salt

Rinse chicken pieces, drain and put in a large bowl with oil, 1/4 cup lavender blossoms, garlic and barbecue sauce. Mix well and let stand at least 15 minutes, or cover and chill up to 4 hours. Grill chicken, turning to brown evenly, until no longer pink at bone in the thickest part, 25-30 minutes. Transfer to a platter and sprinkle chicken with more lavender blossoms. Add salt to taste. Makes 8-10 servings.

My dear, have some lavender, or you'd best have a thimble full of wine, your spirits are quite down, my sweeting. ~ Lavender and O'Keefe (A Beggar on Horseback, 1798)