By GINA KINSLOW
GLASGOW — Flowers smell nice and they are pretty to look at, and sometimes they are good to eat.
Yes, that’s right, eat.
Allen County resident Lee Elliott spoke to the Glasgow Garden Club last week about edible flowers.
Small violets that bloom in the spring known by some local residents as “Johnny Jump-ups” can be eaten, as well as honeysuckle, clover, lavender, nasturtiums and pansies.
“These you can just throw in a salad. The honeysuckle you can put a glass of tea,” she said.
Other edible flowers, such as roses, chrysanthemums, marigolds need to be trimmed free of their white base before they can be eaten, because it can be bitter.
“When you are working with edible flowers there are certain things you need to keep in mind,” Elliott said. “For one thing, if you have pollen-based allergies, you need to be very careful when you’re eating flowers.”
She suggests introducing flowers in small portions.
“If you’re going to make a salad, don’t put three or four flowers in there, and then wonder which one didn’t agree with you,” she said.
Elliott warned garden club members to not pick flowers from the roadside if they intend to eat them, because they may have been sprayed with poison and have been exposed to pollution from passing vehicles. She also cautioned them about eating flowers from a florist, because they may have been treated with insecticides.
“You really need to know your source,” she said, adding she felt like she was preaching to the choir because who should know more about flower gardening than the garden club. “You need to grow your flowers. If you’re going to eat them, you need to grow them like you would vegetables. You need to know your source. Grow them yourself or know your grower.”
Elliott said flowers need to be grown as organically as possible, and if herbicides and pesticides are needed they should be the same ones that are used for vegetables.
“If you wouldn’t put it on a tomato, you shouldn’t put it on a flower,” she said.
Some flowers she uses frequently in recipes are vegetable plant flowers, such as squash, pumpkin, pea and jalapeno. She uses squash blossoms in place of peppers to make stuffed squash blossoms instead of stuffed peppers.
She also uses the blossoms of herbs, such as basil, thyme and chives in recipes, and has used flowers to make teas, butters and vinegars.
Sharon Degiovanni, of Glasgow, invited Elliott to speak to the garden club.
As an herbalist, Degiovanni was accustomed to using flowers in recipes. Her favorite recipe is using lavender to make cookies.
Helen Tinsley, of Glasgow, had never eaten flowers until last week when she gave nasturtiums a taste.
“They were peppery,” she said.
Some garden club members have never eaten flowers, including Doris Ledendecker, of Glasgow. But after listening to Elliott speak, Ledendecker said she thinks she may give them a try.
“I would probably enjoy it,” she said. “I think something in a salad would be delightful.”
