17 Edible Flowers for Adding Stunning Color and Flavor to Your Plate

These tasty eatable flowers will add floral genius to your favorite formula as well as your garden .

With the increasedpopularity of using comestible efflorescence in recipesfor everything from salads to cocktails and cake , face no further than your garden to try this blossoming style . Many of the best edible flowers are easy to mature , and produce your own ensures you ’ll have the freshest , chemical - barren peak at your public toilet . Here are the substantially edible flower that you may easilygrow in your garden . Plus you ’ll find a description of each flower ’s flavor and bakshish for how to best use them tobeautifully heighten your recipe .

Not all flowers are eatable or safe to eat . Before consuming any blossom , you must be completely sure that it is an edible miscellanea . Individuals have the flower or plant life list here do so entirely at their own peril .

autumn damask rose

Credit: Doug Hetherington

Calendula

Andy Lyons

bestow freshcalendula(Calendula officinalis)petals to your salads for a savoury blistering flavor , or dry the daisy - similar petals to use in tea . glean the blooms , which come in yellow , orange , and even pale pink , when the petals begin to open ( only the petal are edible ; do not eat the flower centers ) . This easy - to - grow , coolheaded - time of year annualattracts bees and butterfliesto your garden .

Bee Balm

The starburst - shape flowers ofbee balm(Monarda didma)blossoms make a conversation - worthy addition to salads and teas with their sweet , spicy tang . The plant ’s bright red peak bear out in any garden jell andattract pollinators with their nectar . The leaf also have a pleasant minty - bergamot orange scent .

Dahlia

Laurie Black

Usedahliasfresh , or candy them with sugar for decorating scorched goods . Try different varieties to find the flavour that best suit you . Some have a savory and Malus pumila - like flavor and others have a weewee chestnut flavor .

Herb Flowers

Justin Hancock

When the edible flowers of certain herbs bloom , their leaves can become tough and bitter . But you’re able to pinch off the flush of herb such asbasil(Ocimum basilicum),cilantro(Coriandrum sativum ) , anddill(Anethum graveolens ) to use in your cooking just like you would use their leave of absence . Letting some of your herb peak also willattract lots of beneficial pollinatorsto your garden .

Nasturtium

You ’ll know hownasturtium(Tropaeolum majus)brightens up a salad with its colorful blooms and round leaves . Harvest its flowers and leaves for eating early in the day after the morning dew dries . The flowers amount in a variety of warm color from creamy yellow to shiny ruddy , and add a peppery zing to salads , party dips , and pesto .

Violets

Denny Schrock

Add a charming contact to yourtea sandwichesand candy bark by adorn them withviolets . These velvety purple edible flowers are smaller and more delicate than the petal of closely connect pansies , and they have a mild , sweet flavor . Violets sometimes can be regain mature wild in lawn , but only pick these for eating if you are sure the lawn has not been handle with chemicals .

Pansies

Pansies(Violaxwittrockiana ) have a mild flavor that is often describe as a little turn floral and gamy . Still others say their tone is exchangeable to the taste of mint . But it ’s the distinctfacelike grading on their petalsthat make cooks desire to practice them as a garnish in salads , cakes , andcroissants . Some pansy peak are large enough that their flat petals can well cover the top of an entire cupcake .

Tuberous Begonia

Robert Cardillo

bestow a splash of undimmed color to your cookery with the petals oftuberous begonias(Begonia x tuberhybrida ) . You ’ll be surprised with its tart lemony taste and double prime . exquisitely slice stacks of petals into confetti for sprinkling oncreamy soupsand roasted veggie . Or take advantage of the petals ’ naturally crisp texture and employ them as colorful dipper for yoghurt .

Borage

Garnish your salads , summer drinks , and desserts with the bright drab eatable blossom ofborage(Borago officinalis ) . Harvest fresh tailwort flowers during the spring and summer when their light cucumber vine sapidity is at its peak . Borage is an easy - to - grow herbaceous plant that want piddling upkeep and itattracts pollinators .

Dianthus

Give your homemade cocktails visual appeal by addingdianthusflowers to ice cubes orice mob . The edges of the petals have a fringe look , as if someone pare them with pinking shear ( hence their common name of pinks ) . The efflorescence of most varieties have a mild flowered taste , except for clove tree pink ( Dianthus caryophyllus ) , which have a clove - like fragrance .

Before cooking or garnishing food with genus Dianthus , remove the bitter , white “ cad ” at the foundation of its flower petal .

Bachelor’s Button

When you need a drab eatable flower , trybachelor ’s button(Centaurea cyanus)also known as Uvularia grandiflora . This plant is a tough reseeding annual that will grow year after year without needing much help from you . Its blue flowers add together a fragile spicy - sweet-scented flavor to salad and a splash of color atop steamed green . you may alsodry its petalsand utilise them in make tea leaf .

Roselle

Penpak Ngamsathain / Getty Images

If you drink afternoon tea , you ’ll desire to get acquainted with sorrel ( Hibiscus sabdariffa ) . The plant is most often grown for its burgundy calyx that develops at the foot of its flower . The calyx is harvested to makehibiscus tea , which has a lemony fruity flavor . Another path to go through the sweet flavor of roselle is to make asweet breadthat has a riffle of cranberry - hibiscus kettle of fish .

Roses

Top off your favoritepavlovaorcocktailwith the vivid floral fragrance ofroses . eatable grow flower petal smack like a pink wine smells , so the more fragrant a rose is , the stronger its nip will be . They make a beautiful addition to cake , beverages , jelly , and fruit dishes .

Stock

Stock(Matthiola incana ) is a favorite with florist because of the plant ’s long - lasting blooms , range of colour , and classifiable scent that is redolent of clove tree . Other than making wonderful cut flowers , you’re able to practice these cool - season bloom as a fairly garnish for alimentary paste or desserts .

Squash Flowers

Think beyond traditional blooms and explore using the blossoms ofsummer squash(Cucurbita pepo)in your formula . Whether stuff , deep - fried , or added to acake , the blossoms ' lightly perfumed flavor is sure to please . The plant ’s edible chickenhearted flowers also make a undimmed summation to soup , omelets , and salads .

Fuchsia

impressment guests at your tabular array with the vivacious colors and unique shapes offuchsia . The intricate bloom make a arresting garnish in fruit salad or as a cosmetic crystallized addition to cake . Be certain to absent the stamen and pistils to heighten the modest sweetness of the petals .

Lavender

Matthew Benson

encourage the flavor of cake , cookies , ice cream , anddrinkswith the flowers oflavender(Lavandulaspp . ) . Mostlavender varietiesare very fragrant and have a distinguishable floral aroma . Harvest lavenderfor cooking just before the flowers open and dry the bud before you use them .

calendula blossom