by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
Depending where you live you may have seen those small packages of colorful, edible flowers in your grocery store or specialty food market. If you have then you know that they can mere than just be a bit pricey. But there is a solution. It is called “grow your own”.
Growing edible flowers is relatively easy if you follow this advice; full (or at least partial) sun and no chemicals. They can be grown from seed or transplant, in containers or in the ground. Not all flowers are edible, however. Some are, in fact poisonous.
What differentiates edible from poisonous?
According to Malcolm Campbell, an associate professor of cell and system biology in the University of Toronto's botany department, petals often contain poisonous chemicals to deter animals (and people) from eating them, a survival mechanism so that flowers can be pollinated by insects, thus perpetuating the species.
Therefore, it is best to grow your own edible flowers. But before you do learn what part of the flower and/or plant actually is edible and when. The same goes for edible weeds. We have talked about that before.
There are some flowers where the flowers are proper edible in their entirety while with others it is just the petals. Know before you plant and use.
Nasturtiums are some of the best known edible flowers and they are used to brighten up salads, and that is aside from the fact that they have also nutritional value.
The flowers of the dandelion, but then again that is a plant that is considered a weed, are also edible in their entirety. The dandelion is, in fact, one of the, if not indeed the, only milky sap plant that is edible, and not just the flowers.
Read the appropriate entries in journals, in books and online, and chose which flowers you may wish to grow for their edibility and learn how to use them and then, enjoy...
© 2012
