A few years back, I was a member of a CSA share that regularly included edible flowers in with the lettuces, tomatoes, and zucchini. While I was charmed by the presence of these flowers, I was always flummoxed when it came to actually using them. If only Miche Bacher’s new book, Cooking with Flowers had been around then. I would have done so much more with those tasty blooms.
Organized by variety of flower, each section begins with details about the particular blossom being featured. Then come the recipes, which manage to straddle the line between being appealing new and still familiar enough to get the old salivary glands working (for instances, how about a scoop of Lilac Sorbet).
As a preserver, I’m particularly interested in the ways that flowers can enhance my preserves. I often used dried lavender buds in jams and jellies to add a floral note, but now I’m contemplating the ways that lilac, nasturtium, and rose petals could improve or add interest to my basic sweet spreads. Makes the mind boggle a little, doesn’t it?
This recipe for Dandelion Jam was originally intended to go in the book, but because of space constraints, was cut from the volume. Eric from Quirk knows I happen to have a thing for jams and so asked if I’d like to feature the recipe here. I said yes and here we are.
I’ve not made this jam, but having read the recipe, I do believe it should work. For a preserve like this one, cooking it up to 220 degrees F will improve your chances of getting a good set from it. Also, do note that while it instructs you to put the finished jam in sterilized jars and seal them, it also requires that you store them in the fridge. This is because the jam doesn’t have the proper acidity for boiling water bath canning.
Dandelion Jam
Ingredients
- 8 cups water
- 4 cups dandelion blossoms
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 1 3/4-ounce package powdered fruit pectin
- 5 1/2 cups sugar
Instructions
- Pour the water into a large saucepan and add dandelion blossoms. Bring mixture to a boil and continue boiling for about 5 minutes, or until water turns yellow.
- Pour the resulting tea through a fine-mesh strainer into a bowl, pressing the flowers to get as much of the color and flavor through the strainer as you can. Discard blossoms.
- Place 3 cups of the tea in a medium saucepan and add lemon juice and pectin. Bring to a boil. Stir in the sugar and boil for 10 minutes, or until sugar dissolves.
- Pour mixture into sterilized half-pint jars and seal. Store refrigerated for up to 2 months.
Just last weekend I made violet syrup. It’s wonderful in tea, lemonade, or selzer. Did anyone have ideas for using it in mixed drinks?
As a child I loved to eat violets and suck the nectar from honeysuckle blossoms. The most delicious cookies I ever ate were made with lavender. I will have to find that recipe; haven’t had those cookies in years.
One of our local state parks has a “Wildflower Weekend” every spring which includes a small informal banquet at which foods made with wildflowers are served. I remember going to that as a child and being enchanted by the idea (and the taste!) of violet jellies.
I one time ate rose pedals….just because
I’ve actually made day lily ice cream before! Also, homemade herbs de Provence and used nasturtiums in salads. I’d love this fun book, thanks for the give-away:@)
I ate a dandelion last weekend! First one of the season!!!
Broccoli. The part we eat are flower buds and when I don’t pick it quick enough it will begin to flower. Still edible and tasty if the weather isn’t too hot and it hasn’t become strong flavored and bitter.
Borage grows like a weed on my property and the flowers are so pretty, so I use them in salads. I’ve never tried dandelion flowers, and I should since I find them frequently in my lawn. I’d love to read through that cookbook to discover ways to make use of what’s naturally abundant my yard.
My older sister uses flowers and herbs in tossed salads all the time. She cooked my younger brothers rehursal dinner, people there did not know what was going on and I got an extra helping since they were to scared to eat them.
Last photo is stunning, gotta love your blog, regards
Munched peppery nasturirums. Stuffed squash blossoms.
We grow borage, a furry plant with downward facing blue flowers. Lovely in a salad or a garnish on an egg dish!
I have not eaten any kind of flower but do remember as a child chewing on sourgrass (sheep sorrel) and plucking the blossoms from the honeysuckle vine and licking the sweet nectar that drips from the stamen. Thanks for offering this giveaway, it has brought back some memories and will definitely buy a honeysuckle vine to plant in my garden.
When I started gardening I did research about edible flowers that I could grow in my garden. My favorites have been borrage, nasturtiums, lavender, violas, calendula and french marigolds. I use them to decorate cakes and salads.
My best flower eating story is when I tried a society garlic flower for the first time. I could NOT get the garlic taste or smell from my mouth for hours! That is one pungent little blossom. I had to brush my teeth around 3 or 4 times. We have since outlawed the consumption of that flower in my house!
I have eaten stuffed zucchini blossoms many a time. We also have used small blossoms on sorbet. But the best was a recent adornment on my vegan sushi. Not only was this small flower (perhaps an orchid) aromatic, it almost had a spicy taste to it.
When I was a little girl we lived in a beautiful farmhouse in Conn. The old well house was on a hill that was covered in purple violets in the spring. I can so remember sitting on that hill eating violets with my guinea pig “Brown Sweater” and I’m sure we were in heaven.
I just planted several types of edible flowers in my garden today. Marigold, geranium, lobelia, Johnny jump ups, and nasturtium. I love the way orange and red nasturtium along with bright pink geranium leaves add tons of color to my mixed greens in a salad. I am learning what is and is not edible, and how each tastes. Taste or smell is where I start before deciding what to use an unfamiliar ingredient in. This book would give me even more ideas. If I don’t win it it will be on a wish list for sure.
I remember summers in Boise, especially in the park near the salmon hatchery- there were always big, luscious clover blossoms, deep lilac in the midst of green lawn. We’d pick the blossoms, and pull out each . . . floret? Then we’d nibble at the base of each, rebelling at the tiny burst of sweet on the tip of our tongues. I still prefer clover honey, as I’m sure I can taste the memory.
A friend of mine candied rose petals and added them to a chocolate chip cookie recipe. It was surprisingly tasty and started me on a floral kick!
I only recently started using edible flowers in my cooking. I love to add nasturtium to salads, rose petals to vanilla pudding, and candied violets to French macarons.
As a child it was often a treat to go outside and suck the nectar from honeysuckle flowers. It is a fond childhood memory….
I grew up eating guava flowers, which taste like honey/nectar. The flower that always surprises people when I’ve offered them a petal is a daylily…and since they are gorgeous and come in many colors and only last one day…you might as well enjoy them while you can.
Salt Spring Island Cheese from British Columbia Canada makes the most beautiful and delicious Flower Chèvre. It is a staple at our house whenever we have someone coming over (sometimes that “person” coming over is me). The cheese itself is creamy and smooth and the flower on the top adds that little whimsy to any plate.
http://www.saltspringcheese.com/chevre.html
My parents were “hippies” and my mom would make these beautiful salads that had everything in them, nuts, dried fruit, all kinds of veggies and she would decorate with Nasturtium (I would call the Nasty Utiums 😉 ) flowers. I Love decorating with flowers. I recently made a “twinky, ho ho, snow ball, etc cake for my aunt and we fancied it up with flowers. All kinds of edible flowers. It was actually really beautiful.
When I was a kid there were these little blue wildflowers near our house that I occasionally ate, and of course there’s honeysuckle.
I love adding nasturtiums, chive flowers, rosemary flowers to salads and as garnishes to things like deviled eggs. The first time I tried a nasturtium was in 1998 at the suggestion of a friend. I though she was messing with me, but it was delicious.
Lovely book! I used to spend a few weeks in the summer when in elementary school with my mom’s cousin and his wife in Bedford, PA. They lived on an herb farm, a huge one, and Bev, the wife, had an herbal shop in her house and would sell infused vinegars, make soaps, dried herbs, etc. She also had an extensive edible flower garden and I will never forget heading out before dinner with her to pick a variety to put in our salads that night. It was such a novelty at that age to see, taste and smell the colorful floral array on your plate. 🙂
I used to work on an organic farm here in the PNW as the educational intern for the “children’s garden” portion of the farm. I led groups of preschoolers, teens, all ages around the farm, teaching them about where their food comes from and why farming is so important and fun! My favorite thing to do was to saunter over to the nasturtium patch, ask them if they’d ever eaten a flower before, and then pop one in my mouth! Then I would have them each pick one and, on the count of three, we all popped them in our mouths! It was always the most magical, unexpected and spontaneous moment with the kiddos, and they always TOTALLY got it 😉 Nasturtium flowers will always be really special to me!
Whenever I see Nasturtiums I think of my sister who 1st grew them in California and told me they’re edible.. I didn’t really believe her but I was game to try one. I thought ‘they sure are pretty!’ And I am alive & here to tell the story!
At my cousin’s wedding, there were purple and white flowers of some sort in the salads. Being somewhat… Rural, nobody was really sure why, or if they were to be eaten or not. I did anyway (it was pretty tasty), and promptly absconded with one from the plate next to mine. THAT flower I wore in my ear the rest of the evening, and incidentally managed to charm one of the bridesmaids. Three years later, that bridesmaid became my lovely wife!
You’ve reminded me that we used to eat flowers all the time when I was a kid. Thank you! My grandmother used to batter and fry squash blossoms as a defense against excess zucchinni. She candied violets and put nasturtiums in salads. She also taught me how to use every part of a cattail plant including the pollen. She was a big fan of Euell Gibbons…
When I lived in Santa Cruz an ex of mine taught me how to suck the nectar from a nearby honey suckle bush. It was insanely romantic and honey suckles always give me a little smile as my ex and I are still good friends.
I’m from NC, the land of kudzu. Kudzu leaves can be fried (as is the southern way) and jam can be made from the flowers.
I have recently discovered candied violet petals…. what a fun addition to anything. I’m working on making my own candied flower petals!
Squash blossoms, which freaked me out ’cause I was preventing squashes from growing… and I love squash.
One question, though: Why so much water to make tea when less than half of it’s used for the jam, especially when it’s boiled for so little time, then strained? What does one do with the remaining 4+ cups of dandelion tea?
I planted a borage plant in my garden and read later that you could eat the flowers. They really do taste like cucumbers and look lovely in a salad. I also had wild nasturtiums in my yard that my husband thought were weeds and started to pull them all out. This looks like a wonderful book. Who would have thought having a yard full of dandelions was cool!
My great-aunt had a cottage down by a lake. When growing up in CT, I would go and visit her and she showed me how to suck the nectar out of honeysuckle. Good memories <3
I remember eating wild rose blossoms in Alaska on a family vacation when I was a kid. They were surprisingly delicious!
I remember the first time I tasted a nasturtium. I was standing in my best friend’s grandmothers garden. She encouraged me to try one. I was confused about eating a flower, I had never done such a thing. But after I tasted that floral, peppery silky pedal, I never looked back!
I remember eating rose petals in a lovely rice pudding with cardamom and pistachios.
when i was in sixth grade my school had a renaissance fair. while most of what we ate, i wouldn’t recommend, i did try a rose pudding. which led to my obsession with rose water and rose panna cotta. yum!
For years I have nibbled at wild violets–lovely and fresh! Then there are garlic blossoms. I’ve also sipped the nectar from honeysuckle blooms.
I vividly remember sucking on the spicy sweetness of nasturtium flowers at our woodsy home on the Oregon coast. A true summer treat.
On that note, don’t you think nasturtium jelly would be amazing?
I was a kid and there were yellow flowers on a white cake – when I was told they were edible I couldn’t believe it. It felt so decadent to eat flowers!
I first ate a yellow ginger, while I was about 4, sitting in the grassing smelling this delicious flower, then I ate it, and it was good. It is a lovely flower here in the Hawaiian Islands. We call it Awapuhi Melemele (Awapuhi, ginger, Melemele is yellow)
Mahalo nui,
Schantell
My sister and I spent many a summer pulling caragana blossoms off the tree and sucking out the nectar! In recent years I made a dandelion jelly, but mine was also infused with lavender…
When I was a little girl my Mom told me that I could eat mint leaves from her garden to freshen my breath naturally. I was curious and I decided I could begin to sample many plants from the garden, including the bushes and several varieties of flowers. Luckily, I wasn’t poisoned by my tasting, although it could have easily happened. I do remember eating a Nasturtium and thinking it tasted pretty good.
I remember the first time I ate a chive flower… wow are those strong! My breath tasted like chives for hours.
When I was 15, I wanted to make my mom a special birthday cake. We lived in rural Massachusetts, and her birthday was May 15, so there were lots of flowers blooming. I became smitten with the idea of decorating her cake with flowers, so while she was at work I taught myself to candy violets, then I baked and frosted a cake for her, and covered it in candied violets. The cake was a little sunken, and the frosting was drippy, but the violets were pure purple confection.
I recently had dandelion sorbet at a fancy ice cream shop near my house (in Portland, OR). It also had bits of other edible flowers sprinkled throughout for color. It was good. A pretty light flavor, and very refreshing.
Candied Violets, however I normally just use flowers in tea so I would love this book to learn how to eat them, yum! 🙂