The Do’s and Don’ts of eating flowers.
Most important rule – use your good common sense.
- Don’t eat it if you don’t know it 100% (check Latin names!)
- Don’t eat it even if you know the plant, but you’re not sure the flower is edible
- Don’t eat it if you don’t know where it comes from. No side of the road foraging, no nursery or garden centre stock, definitely not florists, and only from your back yard if you use pesticides or herbicides that are marked for food crops.
- Be careful if you are prone to allergies… make sure stamens, styles and sepals are removed, and start with small amounts.
- Remove most of the green parts of flowers – in some cases ONLY the petals should be eaten, e.g. rose, lavender, chrysanthemum.
- Remove the bitter white heel at the bottom of each petal, e.g. dianthus, rose
- Clean flowers – no dirt or bugs should make it onto your plate, give them a cursory rinse.
All information given is subject to our general disclaimer. We do not accept any responsibility for adverse reactions resulting from the use of flowers as food.