Comments on: Flower Power

By: Amy

Amy — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I think I may have developed my caution over eating flowers from sampling a few garden varieties as a kid, and find them nasty. The roses in my mom's garden did not match up to what I dreamed a rose petal sandwich would taste like (inspiration from reading "The Borrowers").

Now I know better, of course. Bring them on!

-Amy

By: ejm

ejm — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Your salad sounds wonderful, Barbara. I love beet salad with goat cheese - something we only relatively recently discovered. And of course, with the pansie, it really looks beautiful.

I love to garnish with flowers as well and have often noticed that some people just assume that the flower is for decoration only and carefully set it to the sides of their plates. Others cautiously try the flowers. And others just happily eat them.

I once made the mistake of garnishing with whole chive blossoms and did NOT caution unsuspecting guests that the chive flowers should be eaten floweret by floweret. One fellow popped the whole blossom in his mouth and was rather surprised at the heat. Luckily, he was good humoured about it.

One of the things I've noticed about pansies is that they have a very delicate flavour that can be easily lost. Or is it just my northern pansies that don't get enough sun?

Nasturtiums are my personal favourites because they have so much flavour and that delightful punch that is reminiscent of horseradish.

Have you ever eaten day lilies?

-Elizabeth

P.S. please forgive the verbosity!

By: Barbara Fisher

Barbara Fisher — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Hey, Amy!

Rose is one of my favorite flavors; I make cookies with rosewater flavored icing, and I will use rosewater in conjunction with various fruits, particularly strawberries, raspberries and blackberries.

The flavors in the salad were such that the pansy flavor was easily noticed. They are fairly delicate in flavor, though, especially when compared to nasturtiums, which I adore and use all summer long.

Yes, I have used daylily petals in salads, along with nasturtium and roses. I have not yet made daylily fritters, though considering the amount of daylily plants I see coming up in my new yard, I feel that fritters may well be in my future!

By: ejm

ejm — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I've had commercially made rose petal jam but hadn't really thought about using the rose petals from our old rose. And also had rosewater in Indian food. It only blooms once in early summer. I'll try to remember! Is it better to use the petals or the whole flower? (Our rose looks like a wild rose - flat faced)

That's very odd. I've never really been able to taste anything with pansies or day lilies. They have a lovely sweet scent but not much flavour to speak of. I find the same with zucchini blossoms. (Yikes! Maybe my tastebuds are dead!)

-Elizabeth

By: Barbara Fisher

Barbara Fisher — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I doubt your tastebuds are dead, Elizabeth; pansies and day lilies just have very subtle, faint flavors.

For all that I have had sinus and allergy problems my entire life, my sense of smell is very strong, and my palate is fairly developed. That, and I have made a hobby out of discerning what ingredients go into various dishes by ferreting them out by taste and scent. Even with Indian food, I am able to do this, so it is not surprising I can taste lots of different very faint flavors that are more scents than anything.

To me, pansies have a very light, pleasant floral scent; to many people, they have no scent at all. But every time I go near my windowboxes which are full of pansies in order to deadhead them, a whisper of the scent of violets wafts up from them on the slightest breeze. It is very nice, though most folks think I am nuts when I say that they smell good.