11 Edible Flowers With Potential Health Benefits

[Julieanne]

Ansley Hill
June 30 2022

Floral centerpieces on the dinner table are a classic and timeless tradition, but flowers can sometimes show up on your dinner plate, too.
Edible flowers are used in many different styles of cuisine and can be found on menus all over the world.
Not all flowers are safe to eat, but those that are can offer a unique burst of flavor and color to many dishes, including salads, sauces, beverages and entrées. Some of them may even offer health benefits.
Here are 11 edible flowers with potential health benefits.



Read more: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition...740408e9475469

[grulla]

The #11, Chamomile flower, resembles the larger fried egg flowers that grow wild out here on my property in NM, but I see no evidence of their edibility. https://www.shutterstock.com/image-p...ters-295499600

[Islander]

Those are really beautiful, Grulla.
Of course I use dandelions in a variety of ways, the major one being wine, although it's very labor-intensive. But when I go foraging for salad in spring and summer I do use the dandelion leaves, as well as nasturtium and borage, which I haven't grown since I gave up the herb garden. My vegetable garden is loaded with purslane this year and that's one of my favorite salad ingredients although Lambsquarters is right up there too. Julieanne sent me seeds for domestic purslane which did well the first year but failed to reseed, but I have a robust growth of the wild form throughout my vegetable garden and it is most welcome. I'm always pleased to be able to find edible weeds because they are so much higher in nutrition than any domestic variety we try to grow.

[Julieanne]

grulla, they look gorgeous, and I was tempted to grow one, but all the sites I visited say they can be very invasive, so maybe not. You have to keep the roots from spreading by cutting them off constantly. What a shame, as I can buy them here.

[Julieanne]

Islander, I lost my dandelions some time ago. I do have masses of chickweed and stinging nettles, which make a good substitute for spinach. I will be making soup with them today in a lentil dahl recipe I posted here ages ago. I make the dahl then add stock to make a soup.

[grulla]

grulla, they look gorgeous, and I was tempted to grow one, but all the sites I visited say they can be very invasive, so maybe not. You have to keep the roots from spreading by cutting them off constantly. What a shame, as I can buy them here.

The way Fried Eggs have spread around here, I can understand their "invasiveness".

[grulla]

After commenting on the non-edible (?) fried egg flower, it occured to me that I have yet another notable wild flower growing here, the 'toxic' Jimson weed. But after a quicki wiki search, I found out the the Jimson weed is widely used medicinally, so perhaps it can be added as #12 on the above "edible" healthy flower list. Just another example of "the poison is in the dose." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datura_stramonium