Edible flower pickling
While they are commonly used to add an aesthetic appeal to dishes, did you know that you can also preserve their edibility? Pickling flower petals is a thing that not many people may know. All edible flowers are good enough for pickling, and each has its distinct taste that goes well with other food.
How To Pickle Flowers
A pickled flower is quick and an easy thing to do but needs quite some patience. You must wait a few weeks to allow the flavor to intensify as it ferments before you can use it.
Ingredients:
1 cup edible flower buds or petals
1 cup light vinegar (rice, apple cider, or white wine vinegar)
1 tbsp. sea salt
1 tbsp. sugar (or honey)
Rinse the flowers and pat them dry carefully to avoid bruising the petals.
Simmer vinegar, sugar, and salt until dissolved. Let the brining solution cool down.
Fill a mason jar with the flowers then pour in the brine and cover it tightly.
How To Store Pickled Flowers
You can store pickled flowers by letting them sit in a dark place or in the refrigerator for at least a week. Pickled flowers can last for up to a year in the refrigerator. However, they tend to lose their colors over time, and you may want to use them before they do.
Borage
The dainty, star-shaped flowers of the borage have a taste similar to cucumber. Borage is found almost everywhere in meadows or even in disturbed habitats. .
Its leaves and flowers are edible, and the flowers are best harvested before they are fully open. .
To harvest borage, snip the flowers with its fluffy stars included, and discard the withered petals. Place them in a bucket of ice water to keep them hydrated and to easily remove the fluffy parts when using them. .
Borage is a plant rich in vitamins and minerals that can provide many health benefits. It is a natural remedy for respiratory and digestive problems. Borage is also excellent for neurological problems and many degenerative diseases.
Dandelion
To harvest and eat dandelions, try to clip the small leaves from the plant before the plant flowers. Be sure to wash dandelion greens well, and steer clear of picking them out of public lawns. Those areas are too heavily sprayed with chemicals to warrant eating. Use dandelion greens in salads, or cook them in a sauté. I like my greens wilted with a little bacon and an egg in the morning. You may also use the flower petals in recipes. I roll chopped petals into cracker or pie dough, for their bright yellow color, but the taste will not shine through unless you use an exorbitant amount of petals.
Lavender
Harvesting and drying lavender is simple – simply snip off the stems just before the flowers open and when you've gathered enough for your needs, tie the stems together and hang them up to dry somewhere sheltered. After a few weeks the flowers will have dried fully, and can be shaken gently from the stems into a container.
Roselle
After the beautiful roselle bloom fades, the flower withers and falls off. Between 7-10 days after blooming is the best time to pick the calyces. It is time to harvest when the pointy red calyx around the seed pod is just over an inch wide.
