The view from the kitchen window includes all varieties of blooming beauties on these late-spring days.

Why not add the petals of some of those flowers to the dishes you are cooking?

The petals of pot marigolds, or calendula, are recommended for salads, as are chive blossoms, rose petals and dandelions.

The bright yellow dandelion you remember from warm afternoons during childhood also can be battered and fried. The delicate young flowers are said to taste like fried mushrooms when prepared this way.

Try that with chive blossoms as well.

More often than not, the petals of flowers are the most edible part of the plant, and are best used as a confetti on salads. The stems or white base of the petals tend to be too bitter to eat, while the petals will be spicy and peppery.

‘‘Usually you just sprinkle for color,’’ said Diane Martin-Berry of Rebekah’s Garden at the State Farmers Market in Columbia, S.C.

Fellow employee Debbie Hacker has a son-in-law with an affection for day lilies.

‘‘He picks my day lily buds and fries them up,’’ she said. ‘‘They’re like fried green tomatoes.’’

Shawn Jadrnicek, a Clemson extension agent in Colleton County, S.C., with expertise in edible flowers, is fond of day lilies, too.

‘‘My latest favorite is stuffed day lily with cilantro guacamole and a cherry tomato,’’ he said.

‘‘Some of the flowers are tasteless and just provide color while some, like the flowers of herbs, can add significant spice or flavor to foods,’’ Jadrnicek said.

When cooking with flowers use only those that you grew yourself without chemicals or flowers that you know have been grown without pesticides. Organic herbicides are safe, but be sure to wash all flowers before eating.

Flowers have been eaten for centuries across all cultures. In addition to the flavor they add, flowers provide color and whimsy to dishes. Consider a corn muffin with marigold petals or a vanilla cake served with rose-scented geranium blossoms the next time you’re looking for ways to dress up ordinary recipes.
Edibles

Some of the flowers in this week’s recipes:

Calendula: Also known as a pot marigold, a yellow orange flower that is strong and bitter. Good in salads, cooked in rice dishes or used in baked goods.

Chive blossom: Lavender flower topping the chive that has an oniony flavor. Good for flavoring butters and sauces or fried in a tempura batter.

Dandelion: Yellow flower with a sweet, honey-like flavor if using young blossoms. Older blossoms are bitter. Can be fried, put in batters or used in salads.

Marigolds: Yellow-orange flower with a bitter taste. Can be used as garnish in salads or to flavor rice dishes.

Nasturtium: Flower with a wide range of colors and a peppery taste. Great as appetizers holding cold salads or to flavor vinegars. Good blended in butter.

Scented geranium: Flower with a variety of colors; the flavor is similar to scent of leaves. Can be used in baking and as a garnish.

Sweet woodruff: White flower with a sweet, nutty flavor reminiscent of vanilla. Use as a garnish, in salads or with fruits.

Resources:

ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/hil/hil-8513.html

“Flowers in the Kitchen’’ by Susan Belsinger (Interweave Press, 1991)

“Edible Flowers: From Garden to Palate’’ by Cathy Wilkinson Barash (Fulcrum Publishing, 1993)
CHIVE BLOSSOM DIP

Makes 2 cups or 32 servings

1/4 cup chive flowers, petals pulled off stem

1/4 cup chives, minced

2 cups sour cream

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Combine all ingredients and chill for two hours. Dip with crudites or blue corn tortilla chips.

- Quail Mountain Herbs, quailmountain.com
ORANGE ALMOND SALAD WITH FRESH TARRAGON AND EDIBLE FLOWERS

8 servings

For the dressing:

1/2 cup white wine vinegar

1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon

1 cup vegetable oil

2 teaspoons sugar

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1/4 teaspoon each, salt, pepper and garlic powder

For the salad:

1 or 2 heads red Romaine lettuce

1 or 2 heads baby green bibb lettuce

1 11-ounce can mandarin oranges, drained

1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted

1/2 cup fresh chives or green onions

Petals from 10 to 12 calendulas, mums and marigolds, combined to form a confetti

Combine dressing ingredients into a jar with a tight lid. Shake well to blend and chill.

To prepare salad, line a large salad bowl with Romaine leaves. Tear remaining lettuce leaves into pieces and place in a bowl with remaining salad ingredients.

Shake dressing well. Pour over salad and toss gently.

Serve tossed salad and sprinkle petals from 10 to 12 flowers over salad like confetti.

- Quail Mountain Herbs, quailmountain.com
NASTURTIUMS FILLED WITH GUACAMOLE

20 servings

1 large avocado, preferably a Hass avocado

2 teaspoons lime juice

1 small ripe tomato, very finely chopped

2 tablespoons finely minced onion

1 jalapeno or serrano chile, seeded, finely minced

1 small clove garlic, finely minced

Salt

About 20 nasturtium blossoms

1 small jicama

Lime juice

Peel avocado and remove pit. Mash avocado with a fork and add 2 teaspoons lime juice. Blend in tomato, onion, chile and garlic. Add salt to taste. Let stand, covered, while preparing the nasturtiums and jicama.

Rinse nasturtiums carefully and pat them dry. Peel the jicama and slice it about -inch thick. Cut slices into pieces about 2 by 2 inches, large enough to accommodate a nasturtium filled with guacamole. Squeeze a little lime juice over the jicama slices.

The guacamole, flowers and jicama can be kept for a few hours in the refrigerator before assembling.

When ready to assemble, hold flower at the base and use a teaspoon to fill with guacamole. Set each filled flower on a slice of jicama and arrange on a serving platter.

Serve immediately.

- ‘‘Flowers in the Kitchen’’ by Susan Belsinger (Interweave Press, 1991)
BERRIES WITH SWEET WOODRUFF

6 servings

2 cups ripe strawberries

1 cup raspberries

1 cup blueberries

1 handful sweet woodruff sprigs

1 bottle Asti Spumante

1 large handful sweet woodruff blossoms

Rinse berries and drain well. Halve the strawberries if they are large.

Put berries and woodruff sprigs in a shallow bowl and carefully cover them with 2 to 3 cups Asti Spumante.

Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for one to two hours, stirring once or twice.

Remove from refrigerator 15 to 20 minutes before serving.

Take out and discard woodruff sprigs. Toss berries lightly with the blossoms, and transfer berries and their liquid into a serving dish or individual serving dishes.

Pour a splash of Asti into each dish as it is served to give it a bit of fizz.

Note: Sweet woodruff can have a blood-thinning effect if eaten in large amounts.

- ‘‘Flowers in the Kitchen’’ by Susan Belsinger (Interweave Press, 1991)
DANDELION ‘‘MUSHROOMS’’

4 servings

15 dandelion flowers, rinsed in water, but still slightly moist

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons butter

Dredge moist flowers in flour. Heat butter in a heavy frying pan. Add flowers and fry quickly, turning to brown all sides. Serve hot.

- ‘‘Edible Flowers: From Garden to Palate’’ by Cathy Wilkinson Barash (Fulcrum Publishing, 1993)
ROSE ANGEL CAKE

10 to 16 servings

For the rose geranium jelly:

1 pint apple jelly

1/2 cup rose geranium petals

For the cake:

1 angel food cake cut into three layers

Orange juice

Vanilla ice cream, softened

Place one layer of angel food cake in a tube pan. Lightly sprinkle the layer with orange juice. Spread a thin layer of rose geranium jelly over cake. Place next layer of cake atop the first. Sprinkle lightly with orange juice and spread thickly with ice cream. Add last layer of cake.

Sprinkle lightly with orange juice and spread with jelly. Spread with ice cream. Put cake in freezer until ice cream hardens.

Remove from freezer and gently unmold onto a serving plate. Spread ice cream over entire cake and return to freezer until ice cream hardens. When ready to serve, slice and serve garnished with rose geranium petals.

- ‘‘Edible Flowers: From Garden to Palate’’ by Cathy Wilkinson Barash (Fulcrum Publishing, 1993)

source : www.chieftain.com By McCLATCHY-TRIBUNE PHOTO/RENEE ITTNER-McMANUS