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Edible flowers

What they are and how to make the most of them

By Fernanda Manuela Tomas ViegasPublished 4 years ago 3 min read
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Who said flowers are only to be seen, appreciated and even smelled? They can also be eaten. But beware, I'm not talking about all the flowers in the world, but there are flowers...that are...edible!

Believe it or not, but edible flowers give our dishes a truly magazine cover look, yet we know very little about their properties.

As it has already been said, the edible flowers besides causing a visual impact, due to their bright colors, which makes people feel even more like eating a certain meal, because we cannot forget the old expression "the eyes also eat", but they also have some nutritional added value.

According to the nutritionist João Rodrigues, who is a defender that "its nutritional composition varies according to the type of flower, but above all, it is a food that contains significant amounts of bioactive compounds with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory potential, namely polyphenols, carotenoids and triterpenes".

Taste, colour and the right amount

For those who don't know, there are sweet, bitter flowers, with a soft taste or an intense taste. The difference in their appearance will also be reflected in a wide variety in terms of taste.

And the nutritional composition of flowers depends a lot on several factors, such as colour. If, on the one hand, we have differences in terms of macro and micronutrients, it is in the bioactive compounds that they settle. As with horticulas and fruits, the different colours reflect distinct nutritional properties. The same happens with edible flowers.

In other words, the nutritional added value will depend on the amount consumed. And this is relevant in the case of edible flowers, since they are consumed in very small quantities.

Some edible flowers:

We have the coriander flower, which are very aromatic, so they can be used as seasoning and raw.

Curgete, the curgete flowers have a larger dimension, and are traditionally dipped in a polme and fried. There are also those who fill them before frying them.

The Portuguese flower, here we have the love-perfect that will be the most consumed, however, also the rose, chamomile, violet, marigold, capuchin, borage flower, garlic, coriander, courgette and lavender are part of the lot of flowers consumed with greater regularity in Portugal, at least.

Petal to Petal

What care should we take? Well, first of all, we must remove the stamens and the pistils, because they are bitter. Then, of course, we should wash the flowers, which may not be so easy, for two reasons: the first, because the edible flowers are fragmentary by nature and because not all parts of the flowers are accessible.

Are there toxic flowers?

Of course there are, and that is why it is essential to be sure that the flowers you want to consume are really cosmestive. We can't be fooled by their beauty.

And do the most common flowers, such as lavender, rose petals or perfect loves have to go through some special process?

As I said before, it is essential to be absolutely sure that the flowers are really edible flowers. And of course, it is also very important to make a good sanitization, not because the flowers need a special sanitization, but because the flowers need a special sanitization.

So, you know, the next time you find edible flowers, what to do with them, but don't eat tons of them either, because as they say, anything too much is bad for the belly...and not only that.

You could say that edible flowers are like mushrooms. There are those that are edible and those that are dangerous and toxic, just know how to differentiate.

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About the Creator

Fernanda Manuela Tomas Viegas

I'm a curious person. Love to read, i love to write and i love to tell stories, speacelly when we have small children

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