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Plant Talk

Inside The New York Botanical Garden

Tip of the Week: Edible Flowers

Posted in Gardening Tips, The Edible Garden on July 27 2009, by Sonia Uyterhoeven

Sonia Uyterhoeven is Gardener for Public Education. Join her each weekend for home gardening demonstrations on a variety of topics in the Home Gardening Center.

daylilyEdible flowers are not to everyone’s taste. Some are wonderfully fragrant and delicious, others are lemony, some are spicy and tangy, others taste green and weedy, and some even taste fishy. Edible flowers are a good way to add color and seasoning to your summer salads. They brighten up herb butters and dress up desserts. When added to a bowl of sugar or to a bottle of vinegar and left to steep for several weeks, they create inventive, tasty combinations.

Some flowers need a little bit of preparation before they are ready to tickle your tongue. The sepals, stamens, and stigmas of some flowers such as borage (Borago), tulips (Tulipa), and daylilies (Hemerocallis) should be removed before eating—only the petals are eaten.

Pinks (Dianthus) and roses (Rosa) can have a bitter white edge at the base of the petal, which should be cut off before using. Some marigolds (Tagetes) are divine, but others are not—try the lemon-flavored Tagetes tenuifolia ‘‘Tangerine Gem’ and ‘Lemon Gem’.

For the best flavor, harvest flowers either when they are in bud or have just opened. Harvest on a dry day, mid-morning after the dew has evaporated and before it gets too hot. It is best to use flowers when they are fresh. They can be refrigerated for several days, but they do not dry or freeze well.

You may have already eaten edible flowers without knowing it. Flowers are used to flavor many herbal teas. My favorite is a lavender (Lavandula) tea. There is a French cafe in New York City that serves a mean cup. It is simply an infusion of dried lavender flowers. If you go down to Chinatown, a traditional hot and sour soup will contain “golden needles,” which are the dried petals of the tawny daylily.

I find edible flowers sold by organic farmers at the market in Union Square. Upscale supermarkets such as Whole Foods also contain some salad mix that includes a nice array of edible flowers. Nasturtiums (Tropaeolum) add wonderful color and a nice peppery flavor to salads. Pot marigolds (Calendula), with their spicy flavor, are my personal favorite for salads and herb butters.

Warnings and Tips

  • Make sure to identify plants correctly—not all are edible; many are poisonous.
  • In many cases, only certain parts of plants are edible.
  • Many nursery-bought plants and florist’s flowers are sprayed with fertilizers and pesticides. It’s better to buy organically grown flowers or to grow your own. 
  • Many plants with edible flowers are beautiful and easy to grow. 
  • Always wash leaves and flowers well before eating or cooking with them. 
  • If you use flowers and leaves as decorative garnish on platters of food, make sure they are edible and washed well.