5 Edible garden flowers hidden in plain sight!

Looking for edible garden flowers? While flowers are often grown for their beauty and aesthetic value, did you know that many of them are also edible and can be used to add flavour and colour to your meals?

Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers

Plus, Spring is here! And in Toowoomba, that means Carnival time!

Wait. Carnival time? Flowers!? If you don’t live in South East Queensland you are probably thinking I am crazy. But there is a connection. Here in the ‘’Garden City’’ of Queensland, every Spring, at the very start of the school holidays, we celebrate the ‘’Carnival of Flowers’’. Nearly two weeks of flowers, eating, raffles, stalls, baking, and live music. What that means is:

• 10 days of events
• 100,000+ people arriving for the opening Floral parade (this Saturday, 22 September at 3 pm) and
• Over 176,000 bulbs and seedlings planted.

Now, my garden is looking pretty shocking (this is what happens when your small business does record sales in August/September and is looking at beating that record!) but one thing that ALWAYS survives is Nasturtiums.

And they are edible!

They have a peppery taste and a velvety texture.

So many flowers can be used with food as gorgeous garnishes (crystallised or fresh), additions to salads, cooked up into stir-fries or thrown in with your steamed veggies.

So why don’t you get into the spirit and celebrate Spring with some edible petals!

Here is a list of common edible flowers that may be already flourishing in your garden.

1. Nasturtium: use as garnish, throw into a salad or steam them
2. Pansy: beautiful mild addition to salads or morning muesli
3. Viola: gorgeous crystallised!
4. Rose petals: great for infusing in salad oils or in berry jams
5. Lavender: next time I roast Lamb I am going to try a lavender rub instead of Rosemary!

A word of warning:

Make sure you don’t have any harmful chemicals or pesticides in your garden before eating your flowers. They are very difficult to wash (as with dainty mushroom and strawberries, water tends to do bad things to them when not attached to the mother plant) and any pesticides can be harmful to you!

Also, it is the petals that you should be eating. Ignore the stalks and anything that is not a petal! There are some exceptions to the rule but overall this stands true.

Happy petal hunting!