{"id":6497,"date":"2010-03-12T01:41:41","date_gmt":"2010-03-12T08:41:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/?p=6497"},"modified":"2010-03-20T07:57:40","modified_gmt":"2010-03-20T14:57:40","slug":"grow-edible-flowers-for-a-salad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/flowers\/grow-edible-flowers-for-a-salad\/","title":{"rendered":"Grow Edible Flowers For a Salad"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a title=\"Edible Day Lily Flowers\" href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/hortoris\/3734443365\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3533\/3734443365_c5c1c46157.jpg\" alt=\"Day Lily\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Do you like flavour and fragrance in your salad or would you like some more colour? If the answer is &#8216;Yes&#8217; then I suggest you grow edible flowers in your own garden.<\/p>\n<h3>Harvesting Edible Flowers<\/h3>\n<p>It is normally the petals that are eaten but small flowers may be eaten whole.<br \/>\nGather the flowers early in the day when the dew has just evaporated.<br \/>\nCut with a small pair of scissors<br \/>\nHandle them gently and carry them in a basket to avoid bruising .<br \/>\nLeave them aside so any insects and beetles can escape. Only wash them if necessary then pat dry with a paper towel.<br \/>\nKeep in a closed plastic bag in the refrigerator until required and refresh with cold water before use.<br \/>\nScatter over a salad in modest proportions.<\/p>\n<h3>Popular Salad Flowers<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Pot Marigold<\/strong> or Calendula petals have a vibrant range of colours and can be used fresh or dried. They add seasoning as well as colour.<br \/>\n<strong>Nasturtium<\/strong> are popular as they are easy to grow and have been eaten for centuries. Buds flowers and seeds are all peppery to taste.<br \/>\n<strong>Pansy and Viola<\/strong> have little flavour but the colour can be made available virtually all year round with winter flowering varieties.<br \/>\n<strong>Primroses<\/strong> used to be collected from the wild but it is more PC to grow your own mild flavoured flowers.<br \/>\nOld fashioned <strong>Roses<\/strong> add colour and scent but test the variety first as the base of some petals can leave an after taste.<br \/>\n<strong>Dianthus<\/strong> such as Pinks and Sweet Williams can be strongly flavoured and scented.<br \/>\nThe flowers of<strong> herbs<\/strong>;\u00c2\u00a0 Lavender, Sweet Bergamot, Sage, and Borage are  suitable to eat in moderation.<\/p>\n<h3>Gardeners Tips<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Pick young, small flowers and use with subtlety to enhance a salad not over power it.<\/li>\n<li>Check the plants are identified correctly to avoid toxic flowers.<\/li>\n<li>Add dressing to a salad before sprinkling with flowers to avoid discolouration.<\/li>\n<li>Experiment with a wider range of flowers, there are lots to choose from. See <a href=\"http:\/\/whatscookingamerica.net\/EdibleFlowers\/EdibleFlowersMain.htm\">Whats Cooking\u00c2\u00a0 America <\/a>&#8216;Edible Flowers in salads&#8217;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Do you like flavour and fragrance in your salad or would you like some more colour? If the answer is &#8216;Yes&#8217; then I suggest you grow edible flowers in your own garden. Harvesting Edible Flowers It is normally the petals that are eaten but small flowers may be eaten whole. Gather the flowers early in the day when the dew has just evaporated. Cut with a small pair of scissors Handle them gently and carry them in a basket to&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/flowers\/grow-edible-flowers-for-a-salad\/\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,18,233],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-flowers","category-vegetables-herbs","category-growing-easy-plants"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6497\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}