Edible Flowers Are An Excellent Addition To Salads

Apple, Fuchsia, Sweet Goldenrod, Basil, Gorse, Bauhinia, Eastern Redbud, Angelica, Honeysuckle, Eastern Coral Bean

Every seed in every apple is different than the parent apple trees. Every apple you eat of the same kind is a clone because there was only one original apple tree with that apple. That’s how there came to be some 7,000 different kinds of apples over the years. With mechanization that number has about half. Around the home I grew up in were many wild apples of no distinct variety, just something that sprouted from a tossed away core. Each one unique and the product of littering. What most folks don’t know is that you can eat apple blossoms. Soft scented, floral, only consume a few at a time because they contain a precursor to cyanide which gets release during digestion. A little is tasty. Too many is a tummy ache. A lot is a trip to the hospital. See separate article on site.

Fuchsia

Discovered by Europeans in the Caribbean in 1703 — the natives already knew it was there — Fuchsia has been an ornamental for centuries. It’s a native of the warmer Americas and parts of New Zealand. There are 110 recognized species now, even some that can grow in cooler climates. Most of them are shrubs though one is known to reach tree height. Fuchsia blossoms are edible as are the peppery grape-tasting berries which grow on long stems. The flower is a favorite garnish because of its many strong colors which can range from white to dark red, purple-blue, and orange. Their flavor is slightly acidic. See separate article on site.

Sweet Goldenrod

As you might assume the Boston Tea Party of 1773 reduce the colonists store of tea, and think how far that tea had come, from the other side of the world by sailing ship. It wasn’t as if a new shipload was arriving anytime soon as a replacement. The colonists, already an irritated independent lot, came up with their own “Liberty Tea” and even shipped it to China. Called into action was the Sweet Goldenrod, and not just any Goldenrod but the Solidago odora. While it is reported you can make a tea out of any Goldenrod the top of the botanical heal is the S. odora because it tastes like anise. The flowers and the leaves can be used to make tea. See a separate article on site.

Basil Blossom and Bee

I will admit to being lazy and throwing basil blossoms into my pesto, and soups and stews. That workhorse of the kitchen and Italian cuisine also has edible flowers. It was a practical matter besides culinary. At some point your basil plants begins go to blossom. It’s making enough energy to reproduce and send forth seeds. If you let it, the bush senses its purpose is over — no doubt a chemical signal — and retires. But if you keep snipping off the blossoms it keeps on living to reproduce another day. By using the basil blossoms you get more basil leaves. The blossoms are usually white but can be pink to lavender. The taste like basil lite. They’re a nice salad sprinkle.

Gorse and thorns

There is a saying: “When Gorse is out of bloom kissing is out of season.” As Gorse is never out of bloom, that’s the good news. The bad news is that it is cover with thorns… Perhaps the wedding analogy is appropriate. A spray of Gorse was traditionally put in the bridal bouquet as a reminder. Weather that is of kisses or thorns I am not sure.  One of the The thorns might also explain why its seeds are mostly distributed by ants. Gorse flowers are a trail side nibble. They can be added to salads, made into tea, or used to flavor wine. Oddly, the blossoms smell slightly of coconut but taste like almonds. The bright flowers have also been used for dye, Easter eggs to clothes. See separate article on site.

Bauhinia variegata

Bauhinias since first discovered have been a pain to sort out, and now there are some 600 species in a variety of colors. The blossom of the Bauhinia variegata  and Bauhinia purpurea are eaten raw, pickled or cooked as a vegetable. Some Bauhinia blossoms are used for their nectar. Check out your local species with an expert as they are quite varied in use. My friend Sunny Savage, resident of Hawaii and now sailing about the world, uses Bauhinia blossom raw in salads. Often called the Camel Foot Tree because of the shape of the leaf, Bauhinias are also known as the Orchid Tree and the Hong Kong Orchid Tree. To see a separate article on site.

Eastern Redbud

In the spring time in North America if you see a tree with no leaves and small pink blossoms it is almost certainly the native Eastern Redbud. I say almost certainly because here in Florida there is an imported ornamental that does the same thing at the same time with pink blossoms, except they are huge whereas the Eastern Redbud’s blossoms are small. Native Americans ate redbud flowers raw or cooked as well as the young pods and seeds raw or cooked. The flowers can be pickled. They have a slightly sour taste and are high in Vitamin C . They’re  a pleasant addition to salads and can also be used as a condiment. The unopened buds can be pickled or used as a caper substitute. To see a separate article on site.

Angelica

It’s difficult to imagine a kitchen or herbal medicine cabinet without Angelica around someplace. Angelica has long been valued for its seeds, stems, leaves and shoots. The first two for flavoring — such as in Chartreuse — and second pair as cooked greens, particularly in the Izu Islands of Japan where there are a favored addition to springtime tempura. They have a celery-like flavor. North American Indians, however, smoked the leaves for medicinal purposes. Celery-ish may its green parts be the blossoms, like the Sweet Goldenrod above, have a light anise flavor.

Honeysuckle is a classic

The greater honeysuckle family is an odd one. It straddles the edible/non-edible line, with some members long used as food and other members at least mildly toxic. For example, elderberries are in the Honeysuckle family, then tend to be edible in North America and not in the Old World. A famous or should I say infamous invasive member of that family is the Honeysuckle, Lonicera japonica, or Japanese Honeysuckle. It’s definitely the one we have here in the south spreading everywhere. Kids have known for generations that you can suck the sweet nectar out of the blossoms. Most of them don’t know, however, that the blossom is edible. It has a sweet, honey flavor. You can flavor wine with them as well. Tea is good, too. See separate article on site.

Eastern Coral Bean

Like the Eastern Redbud the Eastern Coral Bean is a seasonal treat. Unmistakable in the springtime it sends up a flower spike populated with red, tubular flowers. The plant has hummingbirds in mind. They ripen for a few weeks then turn into toxic berries, which we do not eat. While the blossoms can be eaten raw they are usually cooked first by boiling. When you do the loose their color and turn light green. Slightly beanish, their traditional use is to mix in with scrambled eggs. Other species such as the Western Coral Bean are in similar ways, and also usually cooked. See my full article on site and video. See separate article on site.

See Edible Flowers: Part Six

High Bush Cranberry Corymb, not a pleasant aroma

I miss High Bush Cranberries. They don’t grow within a thousand miles of here, and they aren’t really cranberries. But they are hearty and familiar fare in northern climes.

Viburnum trilobum has clusters of fruit

The High Bush Cranberry  is actually a Viburnum (Viburnum trilobum) and a cousin of the elderberry. Both are in the greater Honeysuckle Family and have a characteristic musky odor.  That family by the way straddles the edibility line, with some members edible and others not, some tasty and some not. As one might suspect by the name, the High Bush Cranberry has tart fruit. Bradford Angier, a well-known Canada-based forager along side Euell Gibbons, wrote they require a “conditioned palate” to appreciate.

In North America the High Bush Cranberry is found in Canada and the northern half of the United States plus, oddly, New Mexico. It is not as that friendly to wildlife as one might suspect. The fruit persists into the winter because they are not on the top of birds’ preferred food. Birds like the berries after they soften and ferment. White-Tailed deer also browse on the twigs and leaves. For humans the berries are high in Vitamin C, about 30 milligrams per 100 grams.

Virburnum edule has smaller clusters

Viburnum trilobum has several disputed botanical names and several mistaken common names including Pimbina, Mooseberry, Cranberry Tree, Cranberry Bush, American Cranberry, and Squashberry.  Around the world there are at least 10  Viburnums and several cultivars used for food or tea. Among them are: Viburnum alnifolium, Viburnum cassinoides, Viburnum edule, Viburnum lentago, Viburnum nudum, Viburnum opulus, Viburnum opulus xanthocarpum, Viburnum prunifolium, and Viburnum setigerum. In North America V. trilobum, and V. edule are preferred. Generally native North American species taste better than imported European species. This holds true for elderberries as well.

Uncharacteristically “Viburnum” (vye-BUR-num)  is not bastardized Greek but dead Latin for “wayfaring tree.” A Eurasian shrub, Viburnum lantana, is called the wayfaring tree because it grew beside trails that are now roads.  Trilobum (try-LOW-bum) means three lobes, a reference to the leaves. Edule (ED-yew-lee) means edible.

Green Deane’s “Itemized” Plant Profile: High Bush Cranberry

IDENTIFICATION: Viburnum trilobum: A deciduous shrub to 12 feet (4 m) tall. Bark gray and rough, scaly. Stems arch, dense, twigs reddish-brown. Leaves opposite, palmate, three-lobed, five inches (6-12 cm) long and nearly as wide, rounded base, serrated edge, resemble maple leaves but with a wrinkled surface. Flowers white, unpleasant aroma, resemble hydrangeas, four inches across (13 cm) in corymbs with a ring of large sterile blossoms surrounding a center of small, fertile flowers. Fruit an oblong red drupe, 5/8 of an inch (15 mm) long and about a half inch (12 mm) wide, one flat, white seed.  Shrub fruit around five years old.

TIME OF YEAR: Flowers in late spring, fruits in late summer, fruit persists into fall and winter.

ENVIRONMENT: Full sun or partial shade, woods and moist meadows, well-drained soil. Moist is important. Can be trained to be a hedge, favored for colorful foliage both in the spring and fall.

METHOD OF PREPARATION: The fruits are sour with a lot of pectin, can be eaten raw or cooked. Fruit in the early fall can be bitter but can be made into excellent jelly, jams, and syrups for pancakes, meat and game. The flowers can be added to pancake batter or the like and made into fritters. Some think the berries taste better after one or two frosts, others think they are best collected before a frost. It is a conflict of taste and texture, sometimes a confusion of species.

Call it an occupational hazard but I began to wonder one day how many genera were unique, that is, they had just one edible species in them, the so called monotypic genus. Some families are huge such as the sunflower family which has 1550 genera and 24,000 species. The oxalis genus has some 800 members. Worldwide there are more than 16,000 genera and over one million different species, of which perhaps 135,000 are edible, a little more than 10 percent. There are some 438 monotypic genera, each with just one species in it. But, how many edibles are among them? I knew of five edible plants locally that were all the only species in their genus. So I began to collect them, with thanks to KoolAid_Free_Lexi. At the moment I am at 64, the largest collection of them in one place. I’m sure some my readers, like Kool AId,  will send me more monotypic genus edibles, all unique in their own way. In the list below there are a few well-known plants: Gingko, dill, fennel, Saguaro cactus, saw palmettos, hydrilla, brazil nuts. Others are rare if not obscure, endangered and some federally protected.

Abobra tenuifolia. The Cranberry Gourd is a native of South America, specifically Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay. The egg-shaped fruit is edible. If you are thinking of growing it you need male and female plants.
Achyrachaena mollis, Blow Wives. The roasted seeds were eaten by California Indians.	Blow Wives
Aegle marmelos, Bael, is a native of Southeast Asia, from India to the Philippines. The Bael fruit has a smooth, hard woody shell with a gray, green or yellow peeling. It takes about 11 months to ripn reaching the size of a grapefruit. The yellow pulp is aromatic smelling like marmalade and roses combined. It is eaten fresh or dried, the juice is used to make a drink like lemonade. Leaves and small shoots are used as salad greens. Twigs are used as chew sticks
Allenrolfea occidentalis, Iodine Bush, Pickleweed. Young stems are edible raw in limited amounts because of being salty. Used as a cooked green. The seeds are also edible.	Iodine Bush
Andromeda polifolia, Bog Rosemary. A cold water tea made from the mascerated plant was drank by the Ojibway Indians.  Do NOT make a tea using hot water. That will make the tea toxic.	Bog Rosemary
Anemonella thalictroides, Rue Anemone. The starchy root is edible after cooking.	Rue Anemone
Anethum graveolens, dill. Where would pickles be without dill? I use dill in many supper time concoctions, usually involving cucumbers.	Dill
Athysanus pusillus, Sandweed. Its small seeds have been used as food.	Sandweed
Benincasa hispida, White Gourd, eaten raw or cooked, young or old, used as a vegetable; flowers and leaves steamed as a vegetable, seeds cooked.	White Gourd
Bertholletia excelsa, the Brazil Nut. This common edible needs little introduction. From South American the tree itself grows to nearly 200 feet high and is named after French chemist Claude Louis Berthollet.	Brazil nut
Butomus umbellatus, flowering rush. A native of Eurasia the Flowering rush is become endangered in some areas of its native range but a pest in areas where it has been introduce, such as the Great Lakes. The root can be boiled and eaten.	Flowering Rush
Brasenia schreberi, Water Shield. This plant is common in Florida. It is odd in that its underleaf and stem are covered in a clear gel, making identification easy. To read more about the Water Shield click here.	Water Shield
Calla palustris, Water Arum, a northern tier species. To read more about the Water Arum click here.	Water Arum
Calypso bulbosa, Deer Orchid, Fairy Slipper. The corm-like root was eaten by Indians.	Deer Orchid
Carnegiea gigantea, Saguara, among the most famous of the cactus clan, and with quite edible fruit.	Saguara
Chamaedaphne calyculata, Leatherleaf. Leaves mashed in cold water, drunk as a cold tea by the Ojibway Indians.	Leatherleaf
Crithmum maritimum, Samphire. the salty leaves can be pickled in vinegar, added to salads, used like capers; flowers in salads. Often chopped and mixed with olive oil and lemon juice to be used as a salad dressing.	Samphire
Cycloloma atriplicifolium, Winged Pigweed. The seeds can be ground and used for mush or as cakes.	Winged Pigweed
Cydonia oblonga, quince. My mother has one growing outside her front door. When it takes over the doorstep it gets a trim.	Quince
Enhalus acoroides, Tape Seagrass, is a sea grass, not a seaweed and not algae, but a grass that grows in tidal saltwater. The chestnut tasting seeds are eaten
Eleiodoxa conferta, Kelubi, is a Southeastern Asia palm that dies upon reaching maturty. The heart is edible and the fruit is pickled or used as a substitute for tamarind or made into sweets.
Erigenia bulbosa, Harbinger of Spring. The small root is edible raw.	Harbinger of Spring
Floerkea proserpinacoides, False Mermaid. The spicy plant above ground is eaten raw.	False Mermaid
Foeniculum vulgare, fennel. I can’t cook without fennel.	Fennel
Ginkgo biloba. I first saw them in Japan and later outside Bailey Hall at the (then) University of Maine campus, Gorham, Maine. Now there’s one not a quarter of a mile away from me here in Florida. To read more about the ginkgo click here.	Ginkgo
Glaux maritima, Sea Milkwort. Young shoots edible raw, leaves and stems pickled.	Sea Milkwort
Hablitzia tamnoides, Spinach Vine, Caucasian Vine, related to Chenopodiums, shoots and leaves are edible, raw or cooked.
Hesperocallis undulata, Desert Lily. Large tubers are edible but grow deep in difficult soil.	Desert Lily
Heteromeles arbutifolia, Toyon. Bitter fruit edible, should be cooked, roasting works. Can be dried and ground into a meal, also mashed, mixed with honey and water to ferment into cider. Leaves toxic.	Toyon
Hippuris vulgaris, Marestail. Tips can be boiled.	Marestail
Honckenya peploides, Sandwort, Sea Chickweed. Whole plant edible raw or cooked. Is not a good flavor. Can be fermented like sauerkraut. Berries eaten with fat.	Sandwort
Hydrilla verticillata poses a bit of a mystery. You can buy it in health food stores powdered but there are no ethnobotanical uses to guide us on how to prepare it. Suggestions welcomed.	Hydrilla
Isomeris arborea, Bladderpod. Pods edible after cooking.	Bladderpod
Levisticum officinale, Lovage, an herb garden staple.	Lovage
Limonia acidissima,Wood-Apple, is a native of Southeast Asia particulary in the India area. The pulp is eaten out of hand, made into drinks, or jam.
Maclura pomifera, the Osage-Orange, almost universally reported as not edible. A native to central North America the seed kernels are edible raw or roasted.	Osage-Orange
Medeola virginiana, Indian Cucumber, a well-known edible in the eastern half of North America.	Indian Cucumber
Modiola caroliniana, Carolina Bristlemallow survives locally by growing low in lawns. Resembles flat leaf parsley. To read more click here.	Carolina Bristlemallow
Muntingia calabura, Jamaican Cherry though it is a native of southern Mexico. Fruit is eaten out of hand, sweet juicy, use to make jellies, jam, tarts, pies and added to cold cereal as as other fruit is. Yellow and red forms, very hight in vitamin C, leaves are used to make a tea.
Myrrhis odorata, Sweet Cicely, leaves raw in salads, added to soups and stews, garnish for fish dishes or brewed into tea. Used in candy making. Roots eaten after boiling, served with oil or candied, seeds used as a spice and to favor chartreuse.	Sweet Cicely
Nandina domestica, Nandina. Barely edible, leaves cooked many times and seedless fruit pulp useable. To read more click here.	Nandina
Nemopanthus mucronatus, Mountain Holly, fruit eaten by Indians.	Mountain Holly
Neogomesia agavioides, red fruit edible but very rare.	Neogomesia agavioides
Nypa frutescens is an Asiatic palm tree with edible fruit called Nipa. In the Philippines the sap is to make sugar, alcohol, and vinegar. It’s flowers are boiled to make a sweet syrup. Unripe seeds are eaten raw and used to flavor ice cream. The fronds are used for thatching.
Obregonia denegrii, white fruit edible.	Obregonia denegrii
Onoclea sensibilis, Sensitive Fern, rhizome eaten by Indians, young shoots of a variation called interrupta boiled as a green.	Sensitive Fern
Orontium aquaticum, Golden Club. Roots dried and ground into flour, seeds dried and boiled in several changes of water until paltable, same with flowers.	Golden Club
Osmaronia cerasiformis, Oso Berry. Fruit edible raw, bitter, cooking improves flavor.	. Oso Berry
Oxydendrum arboreum, Sourwood. Young, tender leaves edible raw.	Sourwood
Peltiphyllum peltatum, Indian rhubarb. Peeled leafstalk edible raw or cooked.	Indian rhubarb
Peraphyllum ramosissimum, Squaw Apple. The bitter ripe fruit is edible.	Squaw Apple
Perilla frutescens, Perilla, one  species, three varities, wildly used in Asian cooking.	Perilla
Peumus boldus, Boldo, is native to Chile. Its leaves are used similar to a bay leaf for flavoring although the flavor is different than a bay leaf. Boldo’s small, green fruit is also edible. The flavor is similar to epazote. The leaves also make an herbal tea which is sold commercially.	Boldo
Pholisma arenarium, endangered. The root is edible.	Pholisma arenarium
Piloblephis rigida, Florida Pennyroyal. Very intense, found in scrub land, to read more click here.	Florida Pennyroyal
Platycodon grandifolus, Balloon Flower, roots, leaves and blossom edible raw.	Balloon Flower
Platystemon californicus, Cream Cups, Leaves were cooked by Indians.	Cream Cups
Pteridium aquilinum, Bracken Fern, to read more click here.	Bracken Fern
Ravenala madagascariensis, Traveler’s Palm, bright metalic seeds are quite edible. To read more click here.	Traveler’s Palm
Sclerocactus mesae-verdae, federally endangered and protected, fruit eaten by Indians.	Sclerocactus mesae-verdae
Serenoa repens, Saw Palmetto. The infamous…. the fruit tastes like rotten cheese soaked in tobaccon juice, and $70 million business in Florida. To read more, click here.	Saw Palmetto
Stangeria eriopus. Books a century old or older say the Cycad seeds are edible after cooking. I would be wary. It is a toxic family.	I would have a picture here but my program absolutely will not allow it.
Tamarindus indica, the tamarin, a spice that works is way into your kitchen.	Tamarin
Umbellularia californica, California Laurel, Oregon Myrtle, root bak makes a tea, leaves used like a bay leaf. Nut is edible raw or roasted, its spicy envelope is also edible.	Umbellularia californica

Original White Blossomed Sesbania Grandiflora

Any plant called the Vegetable Hummingbird has to be written about.

Red Blossomed Variety

Sesbania grandiflora, has managed to work its way into warmer areas of the world from its native India or southeast Asia. If you have a frost you might be able to pot it and take it inside but it won’t survive in the yard or field. It grows best in hot, humid areas including south Florida where it’s naturalized.

It has at least five dozen common names. Among them in English are: Sesbania, August Flower, Australian Corkwood Tree, Flamingo Bill, Grandiflora, Sesban, Swamp Pea, Tiger Tongue, Scarlet Wistaria, Vegetable Hummingbird, West Indian Pea, Parrot Flower, and White Dragon.

Fruit is used like string beans

The shrub’s long narrow pods are eaten as a vegetable, similar in use to string beans. The seeds are fermented into a tempeh turi. Young leaves and shoots are eaten in salads or as a pot herb or in soups and stews. Its flowers are eaten raw in salads, boiled, fried or use in curries, stews and soups. They taste like mushrooms and are rich in iron and sugar, read sweet.

The Sesbania is a fast-growing tree with a typical adult height of between 3 and 15 feet. The leaves are regular and rounded and the flowers white and large, a cultivar is red blossomed. The tree thrives under full exposure to sunshine and is extremely frost sensitive. Pollinated by birds. A gum from tree wounds is called katurai and is red when fresh, nearly black after exposure. It’s an astringent gum, partially soluble in water and in alcohol, and is applied to fishing cord  to make it more durable.

Blossoms cooked and plated

Sesbania (ses-BAN-nee-uh)  is from the word Sesban which is derived from an Arab word for one of the species, S. sesban. Grandiflora (grand-dee-FLORL-uh) is much easier. It means large flowered. Other Sesbanias with edible parts include Sesbania coccinea, a cultivar of S. grandiflora, and the Sesbania sesban (the latter is also a forage crop for livestock.)  The roasted seeds of the Sesbania canavillesii has been used as a coffee substitute. All other parts are toxic. Sesbania grandiflora‘s seeds are toxic to fish. An water extract of the bark is toxic to cockroaches.

Green Deane’s “Itemized” Plant Profile: Sesbania Grandiflora

IDENTIFICATION:  Sesbania grandifolia: Tree to 40 feet, but usually smaller, thick, furrowed bark, and soft wood; leaves linate, six inches to a foot long, with 20 to 60 oblong leaflets one inch in length. Flowers pea-like, white, rose or maroon, 4″ long, fruit a pod half inch wide to two feet long.

TIME OF YEAR: Planted at beginning of your rainy season. Flowers and fruits second year though under good conditions can develop pods in nine months.  Grows fast enough to be an annual fodder crop.

ENVIRONMENT: Full sun, no frost, fast growing, short lived, raised from seed. Salt tolerant. Easily damaged by wind. Very susceptible to nematodes,

METHOD OF PREPARATION: Young fruit, foliage and flowers edible, mature seeds not eaten, bark medicinal. Leaf protein amount ranges from 25 to 36%, flowers 14.5%.

Nutrition Analysis

Leaves contain per 100 g, 321 calories; 36.3 g protein; 7.5 g fat; 47.1 g carbohydrate; 9.2 g fiber; 9.2 g ash; 1684 mg Ca; 258 mg P; 21 mg Na; 2,005 mg K; 25,679 mg b-carotene equivalent; 1.00 mg thiamine; 1.04 mg riboflavin; 9.17 mg niacin and 242 mg ascorbic acid. The flowers contain per 100 g; 345 calories; 14.5 g protein; 3.6 g fat; 77.3 g carbohydrate; 10.9 g fiber; 4.5 g ash; 145 mg Ca; 290 mg P; 5.4 mg Fe; 291 mg Na; 1,400 mg K; 636 mg b-carotene equivalent; 0.91 mg thiamine; 0.72 mg riboflavin; 14.54 mg niacin; and 473 mg ascorbic acid.