Discover the Delight of Edible Flowers
Explore our listing of vibrant edible flowers that can transform your meals into a culinary masterpiece. Join us in celebrating nature’s tasty and colorful gifts!
Which Flowers are Edible?
Edible flowers come from a wide range of plants including garden flowers, vegetable and herb flowers, and trees. Our list includes only the flowers which we use ourselves and grow on our farm. While the flowers listed here are safe to eat, and we have use them constantly in our own meals, many people suffer allergic reactions to even conventional foods and products. Before trying any flower listed on this site please read our testing tips and general disclaimer at the end of this page. There are other flowers, such as certain varieties of elderberry, for which certain parts are edible while the wrong parts are toxic. Please do note particular cautionary notices we’ve added to some of the plant entries below.
| Anise Hyssop Agstache foeniculum Leaves and tiny petals have a flavor between anise and root beer that is pleasant used sparingly in both sweet and savory dishes. We use it in ice cream, beef stir fry, chicken marinade, salad dressing, and pound cake. Apple and Crabapple BlossomsMalus spp. The flavor is slightly floral. We use them in salads, ice cream, and to garnish sweet dishes. Just a few at a time – chemical in them creates cyanide in your stomach. Bee Balm (bergamot) Monarda didyma The taste varies by color but ranges from spicy to minty. We like it in herbal tea, salads, and sprinkled on mild fish or on fruits. Begonias-tuberous ONLY Begonia x tuberhybrida The petals have a lemony, citrus taste and a crisp texture. We put them in salads, dip them in yogurt or citrus sauce, and chop them up in fruit salads. CAUTION: they contain oxalic acid so eat in moderation, and any varieties other than Tuberous Begonias are unsafe to eat. Black Locust Blossoms Robinia pseudoacacia The white clusters of blossoms have a mild pea-like flavor. All other parts of the tree are poisonous! Borage Borago officinalis The leaves and flowers of this herb have a light cucumber flavor. Make sure to remove the hairy sepal from the flower before eating. They are good frozen in ice cubes to float in drinks, or tossed in cucumber or green salads. CAUTION: harmful for pregnant or nursing women! Calendula Calendula officinalis These petals have a slightly bitter taste and are used primarily for color. We remove the petals from the flower head and toss them in rice pilafs, on top of soups, or in omelets. Chives Allium The blossoms of chives taste of sweet onions, as do their stems. Use them young when they are crunchy and put them in anything in which you’d use onion. Chrysanthemums Dendranthema x grandiflorum These have a mild to strong, bitter taste so test yours first before using. We have tossed them in salads and sprinkled them on soups. Red Clover Trifolium pratense Clovers, particularly red clover, have a sweet, anise-like taste and are wonderful sprinkled on desserts, tossed in fruit or green salads, or used in teas. Dianthus/Pinks Dianthus spp. The petals taste of cloves and have a spicy scent. They are good sprinkled on fruit salads or used to top cakes. Dandelion Taraxacum officinale These can vary from bitter to earthy in taste, they are better picked in the bud stage or very early bloom. We like the very young buds fried in butter, or you can make fritters from the petals when they first open. Day Lilies Hemerocallis fulva The buds and flowers of day lilies vary in taste from sweetly floral, to beany, to slightly metallic depending on variety. Test yours out but do find some to use – these are one of our favorite edible flowers for their taste, beauty and versatility. Make them into a salad (see the recipe on our recipe page), stuff them with soft cheeses or ice cream, or chop them for salads. The buds taste somewhat like a green bean can are wonderful sauteed or baked. CAUTION: Only day lilies are edible. Elderberry Sambucus canadensis or s. nigra Eat only the flowers (berries may be eaten once cooked but that’s another subject) since the other parts of the plant are very poisonous. Petals can be mixed into a batter and fried as fritters, or they are lightly sweet tossed with salads. Forsythia Forsythia The cheery yellow flowers brighten spring salads with a somewhat bland, minty, or bitter taste. Gardenia Jasminoides Sweet tasting and heavily scented it is best to use gardenia petals very sparingly. 2-3 of them infused in milk will make a deliciously different ice cream, or chiffonade a few petals to sprinkle over fruit salads or fruited lettuce salads. Gladiola Gladiolus spp. We like their mild, lettuce-like taste and texture and use them as a salad base, or stuff them with soft cheeses or sorbet. They make a delightful presentation. Hibiscus (red roselle) Hibiscus rosasinensis The cranberry-lemon taste of the calyxes make a unique and tasty sauce or jelly, while the flowers can be used fresh or dried to make a kind of red lemonade. Steep the flowers in hot water with mint and some ginger to make a wonderful hot tea, or chop the petals and decorate frozen desserts with them. Japanese Honeysuckle Lonicera japonica This ubiquitous plant has flowers with a heavy, sweet floral taste which can be used along with strawberry flowers to make a delicious sorbet, or as a garnish on fruit salads. CAUTION: other varieties (than Japanese) are not edible and the BERRIES of ALL varieties are very poisonous. Lavender Lavandula angustifolia A strong lemony perfume taste comes from both the petals and leaves – it doesn’t take many to get the flavor. We like to steep them for jelly, sorbet or ice cream, and we use them to flavor sugar for baking. Lilac Syringa vulgaris The petals have a slight floral taste and are pretty added to soft cheeses and to garnish sweet dishes. | Marigold Tagetes tenuifolia These are much touted as an edible flower but most varieties taste positively terrible! The only ones we’ve been able to enjoy, and they have a pleasant slightly citrus flavor, are the ‘Gem’ varieties such as ‘Lemon Gem’ and ‘Tangerine Gem’. We use them sparingly in salads and as garnishes, or sprinkled on deviled eggs. _ Nasturtiums Tropaeolum majus This flower is the workhorse of the edible flower world: it is stunningly pretty, varied in color, and has a great, peppery taste found in both the leaves and flowers. When growing your own, keeping them well watered will make the pepper flavor a bit milder. We use nasturtiums in butters and soft cheeses, oils and vinegars, sandwiches and salads. We stuff whole flowers and serve them on toast pieces, and you can even pickle the immature seed pods to use as you would capers. Okra flowers Abelmoschus aesculentus The flowers of this plant are beautiful and look like small hibiscus flowers. They have a somewhat indescribable “vegetable” taste. We use them in salads and in tossed into vegetable stir fries. Garden Pea flowers Pisum sativum The taste of pea flowers ranges, by variety, from grassy to beany to floral. We like them on appetizers and in salads. CAUTION: Sweet pea flowers (the decorative plant) are extremely poisonous. Plum Blossoms Prunus spp. Sweet tasting blossoms are good plain or candied on top of desserts. Just a few at a time – chemical in them creates cyanide in your stomach. Purslane Portulaca oleracea The leaves and flowers of purslane (wild and cultivated) are edible with a tangy, slightly lemony flavor. They are tasty in salads and we think the leaves add an interesting crunch. Redbud Cercis canadensis The small buds or flowers have a flavor that is a cross between green beans and a tart apple. You can pickle them in vinegar or use the flowers in fritters. We like them tossed in salads or with cooked vegetables. Rose of Sharon Hibiscus syriacus Beautiful flowers with a mild taste and hint of nectar. Fill them with cream cheese sweetened with crystalized ginger, or toss them in a salad. Roses Rosa spp. The petals (minus the white part at the base) have a strong floral taste if you use the gallicas, musk roses, cabbage roses, or damask roses. Most modern tea roses have a nasty, metallic taste. of the summer- blooming rose varieties we have found the most taste fro Abraham Darby and Pink Flower Carpet. We have heard that Double Delight, Graham Thomas and Perfect Moment are also tasty. We have used rose petals to infuse honeys, chopped in butter, and sprinkled on fruit salads or green salads. We also like them in combination with other flowers steeped in vinegar. Rose petal sugar can be used in baking. And roses make lovely garnishes. Runner Beans Phaseolus coccineus These flowers have a sweet bean/pea taste and a crunchy texture. We like them atop soups, in sandwiches and tossed in green salads. Squash Blossoms Cucurbita spp. The slightly sweet nectar taste of these flowers tastes wonderful stuffed with soft cheeses. We also keep the stems on them, dip them in tempura and fry them. They are good sliced and used in cream soups, souffles, or omelets, and we like to sprinkle them – chopped- on pasta dishes. Strawberries flowers Fragaria spp. These tiny flowers have a mild flavor that is good tossed in salads and looks pretty as a garnish. You can use the flowers of wild or cultivated strawberries. Sunflower Helianthus annuus Young flower buds can be steamed and served like globe artichokes. The leaf petioles can be boiled and mixed in with other vegetables. Flower petals can be used to make tea. Tulips Tulipia The petals have a sweet, pea-like flavor with a tender-crisp texture much like lettuce. They are beautiful as a salad base, in tea sandwiches, dipped in savory dips, or used as a cup for stuffing with chicken or shrimp salad. Remove the pollen and stamens when using whole. CAUTION: a few people are allergic – start with a small taste and look for numb hands or an upset stomach. Violas and Pansies Viloa x wittrockiana or Viola tricolor The pretty petals of these flowers have a slight lettuce-like taste and are sweet looking as a garnish. Violets Viola odorata A strong, sweet floral taste comes from these petals which are wonderful candied or plain on top of desserts, fruit salads, or in tea sandwiches. You can also freeze them in ice cubes to float in drinks. Other Herb Flowers The flowers of all edible herbs are also edible. We use the savory ones with savory dishes, the mints in Thai cooking or on fruit salads, and the sweet ones on desserts. Chocolate mint is particularly delicious chopped and served with cantelope or watermelon. Other Vegetable Flowers The flowers of all the cole crops (broccoli, cabbage, kohlrabi, etc.) are edible and taste like mild versions of the vegetable. Radishes flowers are mildly peppery. We use all of these in vegetable stir fries. |