Search Results for: edible flowers
Plant These Edible Flowers in Your Garden Now
The first edible flower I ever ate was a nasturtium. We had giant nasturtium plants growing in our herb garden, nearly taking over, in fact, and decided we would start consuming the orange and yellow blossoms and leaves. They have a peppery flavor with a little bit of a kick. It’s always fun to discover plants in your own backyard you can eat.
Nasturtiums aren’t the only edible flower that is commonly found in backyards and growing wild. Here is a list of some of the most common. This list is by no means complete, but is meant to be a starting point for further study of the flowers you have in your yard.…
Read More...82 Common Edible Flowers
Yesterday I posted an article on how to hide your gardens from prying eyes. Part of the premise of the article was that today, many people cannot recognize one plant from another. Most people have no idea that so many edible flowers exist.
Now before you run out and start eating the various flowers, you need to do a bit of study. On many of these plants only parts of the plant are edible. I suggest that as you plan your garden you research the various flowers and make sure that you know what parts of the plants are edible. In some it may be the flowers on other the leaves or roots.…
Read More...Chrysanthemums and Other Edible Flowers
My wife likes to grow pretty flowers in the front yard and I have a tendency to think of that as a waste of time. So we are working out a compromise and she is planting more flowers that are edible. It is amazing the number of flowers that look good in your yard and are edible. Here is a link to a list of common edible flowers, both wild and domestic.
She recently planted some Chrysanthemums, which are growing quite large and are edible. Chrysanthemum greens have a slightly tangy taste and can be eaten raw or cooked. The leaves are steamed or boiled and used as greens, in Chinese cuisine. …
Read More...Some Examples of Edible Ornamental Flowers and How to Prepare Them
The other day I post an article on 82 different edible flowers at that time I said that I would write further and explain how some of them can be used. Here are three common edible ornamental flowers that you encounter all the time that can be eaten in an emergency.
Carnations (Dianthus caryophyllus – also known as Dianthus) – The petals of carnations can be eaten either raw or cooked. The flavor is slightly peppery and spicy. Miniature carnations have a light clove or nutmeg taste. You can use the carnation petals in salads or even cook them as a vegetable. …
Read More...Cow Parsnip a Useful Edible Plant
Heracleum maximum commonly known as cow parsnip (also known as Indian celery, Indian rhubarb or pushki) is a plant that is Native to North America. Cow parsnip is distributed throughout most of the continental United States except the Gulf coast. It occurs from sea level to about 9000 ft, and is especially prevalent in Alaska.
I have debated with myself about whether or not to write about this plant. There are two problems with this plant. One it closely resembles Poison Hemlock, Water Hemlock and Bulbiferous Hemlock and Giant Hogweed. All parts of these plants are extremely poisonous. Second, Cow parsnip juices contain a phototoxin that acts on contact with skin and is triggered by exposure to ultraviolet light.…
Read More...The Groundnut or Indian Potato a Good Edible Plant
Groundnut, Apios americana, sometimes called the potato bean, Indian potato, potato pea, pig potato, bog-potato, wild bean, wild sweet potato, America-hodoimo, hopniss is a perennial vine that bears edible beans and large edible tubers. Its vine can grow to 3-20 long, with leaves 4 to 9 inches long with 1-3 leaflets. The flowers are usually pink, purple, or red-brown. The fruit is a legume (pod) 2 to 3 inches long.
It is a vigorous vine that can wrap itself around shrubs, small trees, and larger vines. It also grows across low vegetation and open ground. The vines can grow from ten to twenty feet each season, dying back in the fall….hopniss…
Read More...Wild Jerusalem Artichokes are a Good Edible Plant
Potatoes aren’t the only good tuber out there, consider the Jerusalem artichoke also called the sunchoke, sunroot or earth apple. This is actually a species of sunflower. It grows wild in much of the United States and Canada. It’s normally considered native to eastern North America, and found from eastern Canada and Maine west to North Dakota, and south to northern Florida and Texas. While this is its natural range due to the influence of man, I have encountered it growing wild in Northern California and I would suspect it can show up in almost every state.
It is a herbaceous perennial plant growing from 4 ft 11 inches–9 ft 10 inches tall with leaves that have a rough, hairy texture and the larger leaves on the lower stem are broad and can be up to 12 inches long, and the higher leaves smaller and narrower. …
Read More...Watercress a Good Edible Plant for Preppers
When I was younger, my mother would serve watercress sandwiches on occasion. They are a common English dish and are quite tasty. I still like them and have a favorite spot for picking it located by an old spring several miles from my home, but still within walking distance.
Watercress is a fast growing, aquatic or semi-aquatic, perennial plant. It is normally found growing in water or right on the edge of a stream, lake or spring. It normally appears to be floating or creeping across the surface of the water. Watercress leaves are made up of three to five oval-shaped leaflets and in the spring, has clusters of small flowers with, four white petals.…
Read More...Purslane, A Common Edible Plant
Purslane, also known as duckweed, fatweed, pursley, pussley, verdolagas and wild portulaca while considered a weed in the United States, can be a good source of vitamins and minerals. Purslane has fleshy succulent leaves and stems with small yellow flowers. They look like small jade plants. The stems lay flat on the ground and radiate from a single taproot forming flat, circular mats up to 16 inches across. The stems are often reddish at the base.
Purslane grows from the late spring to the start of fall. Its succulent characteristic makes it very drought tolerant. It grows wild across large parts of the United States. …
Read More...Common Mallow, One of My Favorite Edible Plants
Every year about this time I go crazy eating wild foods, the plants are everywhere. One of my favorites is common mallow. It grows all over and I love the taste of it raw. As I walk down the hiking trails near my house, I often snack on it.
For some reason while I have written posts on many different wild plants, this is the first time I have posted anything about mallow. Common mallow (Malva neglecta) is sometimes called buttonweed, cheeseplant, cheeseweed, dwarf mallow and roundleaf mallow. Although most people considered this plant a weed, it is an excellent green that can be eaten raw or cooked.…
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