Alice
05/05/2024 (Sun) 19:31
No.4190
del
Not strictly gardening rather foraging but I'd like to keep anything plant related in this thread. It is the season of edible flowers and we're busy collecting them in their short blooming period.
The classic is Sambucus nigra (Black Elderberry) which produces huge corymbs full of tiny white flowers that have a lemon-like smell. It's a tall shrub that grows in the understory of forests and frequently in parks or along roads, almost a weed.
Another tree that produces sweep perfumed edible flowers is Robinia pseudoacacia (Black Locust tree), an invasive species from North America also often found in parks and along roads as an ornamental but also overtakes forests. The flowers are a bit hard to harvest because lost are out of reach.
The last is wild roses which look nice but do not smell or taste like much.
All of these flowers can be cooked into a jam or thrown into batter to make pancakes. Drying them doesn't really preserve smell or taste so they gotta be used fresh.
It's important to just use the flowers without any green plant parts which are tough and can ruin the taste. Robinia and Elderberry plants are also weakly toxic unless cooked but this doesn't apply to flowers
Edited last time by ALICE on 05/05/2024 (Sun) 19:38.