Flowers, edible

Decorating with edible fresh flowers and/or using them in cooking is nothing new. Flowers have been used in food preparation since the Middle Ages; in fact, many flowers that we now grow for ornamental purposes, such as roses and lavender, were originally cultivated for their flavor.

It is safe to say that most of us have eaten flowers without realizing it. Artichokes and broccoli are basically the bud or immature flower of the plant; dried daylily petals are used in Chinese hot and sour soup; and herbal teas often include chamomile flowers or hibiscus, rose, or jasmine petals. When I was a kid, I used to enjoy sucking the sweet moisture out of clover flowers, which grew wild in the meadows, without regarding it as anything unusual.