Add Color to Your Meals with Healthy Edible Flowers
You may have heard that it's good to "stop and smell the roses." But have you ever tried to stop and eat them?
A lot of well-known flowers like roses and lavender can be eaten, if they're grown the right way. They're called edible flowers, and in recent years they've become more popular.
Edible flowers can add color, flavor and often a nice aroma to salads, sandwiches, soups, cakes, cocktails and more. And they're there for more than just their looks!
Rose petals, for example, contain vitamin C, have a sweet taste, and can be added to cakes, drinks and ice cream.
Lavender tastes a bit like mint and lemon. It contains several vitamins and minerals, and can be added to cookies, cakes and desserts, or used to garnish roast meats. But it has a strong taste, so don't use too much!
And although dandelions are considered weeds, the whole plant is edible, and full of vitamins and minerals. Young dandelion flowers have a sweet taste, and can be fried, added to cakes, or used to make syrup, jelly or wine.
But remember, not all flowers are safe to eat. If you're not completely sure a flower is edible, don't eat it!
Also, don't eat flowers from flower shops or garden centers — they may have pesticides on them. And don't eat flowers from the side of the road — they probably aren't clean.
You should only eat flowers that have been grown to be eaten. So they should either be from the food section of your grocery store or from a farmers' market — or better yet, from your own garden, if you grow them the right way!
And if it's your first time to try an edible flower, just eat a little bit first, to be sure you don't have an allergy.
