In my poor growing season, edible flowers are a small, tasty win

The Guardian

19 hours ago

My partner and I have a ritual that makes an appearance at this time of year. When we sit down for dinner, we count up how many crops from the garden we've managed to incorporate into our meal. As I've said in previous columns, I'm not having the best growing season despite the abundance of sunshine, so I'm relying on small, edible wins this summer. (Edible flowers have become more of a feature than ever in our kitchen.)
There aren't many plants that I grow solely for their blooms – edible or not – but fortunately, there are a fair few crops that just happen to produce flowers you can eat, meaning it's likely you, too, might be growing some edible flowers already.
For the first few springs in my veg patch, I sowed the seeds of calendula, violas and nasturtiums as beneficial companion plants to encourage pollinators. Six growing seasons later and these stalwarts reappear reliably when the soil is warm enough. Calendula produce bright flowers whose petals can be scattered on a salad, but my preference is nasturtiums, which have a punchy, peppery flavour. The smiley-faced violas taste subtly sweet and are ideal for decorating cakes.
Many of the annual and perennial herbs in our vegetable gardens not only produce flavoursome leaves but beautiful and delicious flowers, too. Chives develop bright purple pom-poms that taste like the oniony leaves but are milder. Dill is another plant that I adore but, given it often bolts before I've harvested all the leaves I'd hoped for, I'm grateful that their flowers are also edible. Rosemary, thyme and, of course, lavender flowers are all edible and make a pretty garnish on a summer dish or cake.
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There are a number of vegetables whose flowers are worth tasting. Courgette flowers – both pollen-bearing and fruit-bearing – are delicious, especially when prepared the Italian way – stuffed with a mild cheese and herbs, lightly battered and fried. The cute little flowers of peas and beans taste like a sweet, floral iteration of the fruit counterpart. (Be careful not to mistakenly harvest ornamental sweetpea flowers as these are toxic.)
It's worth bearing in mind that harvesting the flowers of fruiting plants will have an impact on your yield. Not a problem if you're picking more courgettes than you can comfortably offload, but an issue if you've only got a few beanstalks and were hoping to fill your freezer.
When harvesting, be mindful not to crush petals as you gently shake off any creatures that might be hiding inside. Petals don't take kindly to being vigorously washed but you can dip them in water and leave on a tea towel to dry. While not all these flowers offer up palette-igniting flavours, our dinners have never been prettier.