Man has always been fascinated by the fragile or wild beauty of plants in bloom – up to and including the present day. However – on the subject of foodies and flowers – have you tried poppy parfait, rose jam, pansy jelly, sugared dahlias or mallows? Have you ever taken a bite of a slice of bread topped with hawthorn flowers, or a spoonful of cowslip mousse? Or treated yourself to scrambled eggs with yarrow?

Using flowers as ‘vegetables’ – just another passing trend? Not at all! Besides plants and herbs, appetizing flowers have been used since time immemorial to flavour food and drinks, often out of need. Some people even made a virtue of this necessity by exploiting the medicinal properties of the flowers. Herbalism was an important feature not only of shamanistic natural medicine but also of almost all ancient advanced civilizations throughout the world. Although there has been a strong revival of interest in naturopathy in recent decades, the fact that floral blossoms can also have a very pleasant taste remained almost entirely forgotten.

Hogweed flowers (also known as cow parsnip), for example, a common meadow plant, has a finer taste than asparagus when briefly cooked in water. Begonias have a fresh taste, while chrysanthemums are slightly bitter, as are dahlias. Daisies on the other hand have a nutty aroma. Gladiolus flowers are also edible, as are jasmine, lavender and Southern magnolia. And while corn poppies and cornflowers might not have a strong taste, they make an attractive addition to many dishes.

Roses, yarrow, cowslips, sunflowers and violets are all beautiful to look at, taste delicious and often contain essential nutrients; dandelions, for example, are as rich in vitamin A as carrots. Very few cultivated flowers are really poisonous – however, great care must be taken with flowers bought from florists or markets, as most of these have been sprayed with insecticides or pesticides. Ideally, you should only eat flowers from your own garden or balcony: nasturtiums, roses, pansies, violets, sunflowers and marigolds can be grown in pots and trays like kitchen herbs.

Flowers should be picked in the morning when they are fresh and at their peak. Pernickety cooks rinse them briefly under cold running water, but usually it is sufficient to give them a gentle shake to remove any small insects. The stalks should always be removed. Freshly picked flowers placed in a dish of water can be kept in the fridge for several hours. To preserve their delicate texture and fine fragrance, the flowers should be added to food just before serving. If used in salads, they should be kept aside until all the other ingredients have been tossed with the dressing.

Very few flowers can be heated; one exception is the elderflower, which is delicious dipped in batter and fried in oil or butter. Elderflowers can also be used in baking to make a tasty cake, or to make wine with a delicate hint of nutmeg. A particularly attractive way of using edible flowers is to candy or crystallize them and serve them as a dessert. Passion fruit flowers are particularly suitable for this method of preparation, as are roses and violets.

But, as always, the proof of the pudding is in the eating! Why not try one of these, which sound as if they come from the menu in a fairytale: cuckoo flower soup, crispy oxeye daisy buds, salad of marigold, daisy and sunflowers, stuffed courgette flowers, lavender roast lamb, wild garlic flower sauce or salmon trout with phlox? And for dessert, rose petal sorbet accompanied by a glass of champagne with a begonia or jasmine flower floating in it.

Beware – some flowers are poisonous!!!
These beautiful blooms should only be admired in a vase, but NEVER eaten or used as a garnish: columbine, Christmas rose, monkshood (also known as wolfsbane), foxglove, laburnum, meadow saffron, lily of the valley, oleander, spindle tree, tansy, tall buttercup (also known as meadow buttercup), hemlock, daphne, sweet clover and deadly nightshade (also known as belladonna).