Cooking with Edible Blooms

I’ve recently learned that so many of the blooms in my yard are edible: Dianthus, Impatiens, Scented Geraniums, Dandelions (of course!), Apple Blossoms, Lavender, Cherry Blossoms. The list goes on and on.

Edible blooms can be used to simply to brighten up a visually uninteresting meal, like these dianthus flowers in Paleo Egg Roll in a Bowl. It’s been said that we eat with our eyes first, which is a good thing. When taste tested, my husband and I decided the dianthus tastes vaguely like grass!

My lavender plant was battered by recent storms, so I purchased organic culinary lavender and dried hibiscus blooms from a natural foods store (Roanoke Co+op, if you’re local) and began experimenting with them.

“Experimenting” is probably a poor choice of words to describe what I’m doing. I feel very comfortable eating organically grown blooms from my own yard. I’m certain of what they are, and I know they have been grown in a manner that will not poison me.

Avoid eating:

• Unidentified plants
  Be very certain that the plant is correctly identified! If you have any question about the variety of plant you are harvesting, do not eat it! Ex: Edible Queen Anne’s Lace looks remarkably like Poison Hemlock.

• Plants that have been sprayed with pesticides or other chemicals
• Commercial, non-organic and florist flowers
• Plants grown near a roadway

No blooms of your own to harvest? You can purchase edible flowers from the produce section of your grocery store or online. Now, let’s get to the recipes!

Hibiscus Tea:
At our last home, we had a hibiscus with blooms the size of platters! I miss that thing. Note to self: Plant some hibiscus! I omitted the sugar in this recipe. The cinnamon and orange would make this a nice, hot tea in winter.
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/michael-chiarello/hibiscus-tea-recipe-1945450

If you’re concerned that lavender foods will remind you of soap, start by following recipes exactly as written. Most recipes require 1 tablespoon of lavender, or less. Once you’ve determined your own flavor preferences, you can adjust the recipe if needed.

Lavender Lemonade:
I love that this recipe is infused with culinary lavender, not essential oil. I’m very certain that 1 cup(!) of honey would make this amazing, but I left it out because, keto. I colored my lemonade with one drop each of blue and red plant based food color.
https://www.smallfootprintfamily.com/lavender-lemonade-with-honey-recipe

Keto Lavender Scones with Lemon Glaze:
These little goodies are so tasty, you’ll forget that they are low carb!

I modified this recipe as follows:
Keto Lavender Scones
1 1/4 C Almond Flour
1/3 C Coconut Flour
8 packets Whole Earth sweetener
1/4 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1 Tbsp Dried Culinary Lavender
1/4 C Almond Milk
1/4 C Heavy Whipping Cream
2 Tbsp Butter, softened
1 tsp Vanilla
1 Egg
In a mixing bowl, blend the dry ingredients together. Mix the wet ingredients in a separate bowl. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix well. On a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a Silpat™, form the dough into an 8″ round. Slice into 8 wedges. Bake at 350º for 18 minutes.

You can stop right there and serve these with fresh butter, or for extra credit, make them even more gorgeous and delicious with this glaze!

Keto Lemon Glaze:
2 packets Whole Earth sweetener
4 Tbsp coconut oil, melted
4 Tbsp canned, unsweetened coconut milk cream (not the milk), at room temperature
2 tsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
Optional Garnish – lemon zest and culinary lavender
Whisk sweetener, oil, coconut cream and lemon juice together until smooth and glaze the scones. While the glaze is still wet, garnish with a light sprinkle of lemon zest and lavender, if desired. Refrigerate to harden the glaze. The scones will keep in the refrigerator for a few days, or in the freezer for a month, if they last that long!

What do you think? Do you cook with flowers? Is this something you would try?

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