Edible flowers, a bouquet of flavors and colors! - Infolibrary Cuisine l’Angélique

Edible flowers are growing in popularity. Discovering them, adopting them, getting into the habit of adding them to your dishes is an original way to enchant meals.

Edible flowers have been around for thousands of years.

Edible flowers perfectly enhance our best dishes. There are more than 40 varieties of edible flowers to be grown in our flowerbeds or gardens.

Flowers have been used as food for a long time. The Chinese, Greeks and Romans were already consuming them thousands of years ago, in addition to enjoying their medicinal benefits. At that time, borage was one of the most popular. The Greeks had nicknamed it: Euphrosynon (joy of feasts).

Cuisine L’Angélique… and Angelica, the plant of angels

Learn more about this plant and its symbolism

A variety of tastes

Edible flowers always bring a touch of colour and fantasy to dishes, not to mention their unique flavours. Some have a spicy flavour while others have a more floral taste and some are even fragrant. Chive flowers decorate spring rolls, Capuchin is pretty in a cocktail or in a marinade, the large flowers of squash are exquisite when stuffed …

In addition to their pleasant flavours and beauty, the flowers also have nutritional qualities. They are a good source of minerals, trace elements and vitamins. Many are rich in vitamins A and C, or rich in Omega 6 as is the case for borage. For example, dandelion flowers are rich in iron, calcium, phosphorus, and vitamins A and C.

Edible or… toxic?

Certains n’osent pas manger de fleurs de peur qu’elles soient impropres à la consommation. Pour ce faire, quelques conseils précieux feront en sorte de vous rassurer. Il existe plusieurs ouvrages sur les plantes comestibles. Faites-y référence si vous doutez à savoir si telle ou telle fleur est comestible.

EDIBLE FLOWERS LIST

Unless you have a reliable source, we recommend growing them in your own garden. Any roadside or public park flowers may have been treated with pesticides, so it’s best to avoid those.

Generally only petals and pistils are consumed.

Avoid: Toxic plants include crocuses, daffodils, lily of the valley, oleander and rhododendrons.

Some unique flavours:

BASIL: is your basil blooming? Why not incorporate these flowers into your salads? The flavor is similar to its leaves.

WILD PANSY: Wild pansy tastes slightly like mint. It is a delicate little flower that beautifully accompanies desserts. We recommend removing the stalk, which has a rather bitter taste.

CAPUCHIN: Capuchin is the most popular edible flower. It offers a sweet, spicy and slightly floral flavour.

HIBISCUS: Hibiscus flowers lend themselves well to herbal teas and have a cranberry flavour.

BORAGE: Borage flowers are surprising with their cucumber taste.

CARNATION: Carnation petals are surprisingly sweet.

CARNATION: Carnation petals are surprisingly sweet.

CITRUS FLOWERS: Citrus flowers are delightful for their sweet flavour and persistent fragrance.

MONARD: with their sweet taste, monard flowers are a great addition to salads and lemonade. Their long red filaments nicely decorate desserts, yogurts or ice creams.

VIOLET: also very popular, sweet violets enhance salads, dressings, cocktails and desserts.

ANGELICA: a fully edible plant.Find out more.