The Thing: Edible Flowers

Unless you've been living under a rock, and under that rock there happen to be zero cafes, you will have noticed that edible flowers are A Thing. No longer are broccoli, cauliflower and zucchini flowers (if you're fancy) the only legit ones you can eat. No way. These days, if you can call it potted colour, you can also call it brunch.

Here is a brief history of the use of flowers as food, demonstrated with a couple of Venn diagrams.

You will notice in the second one that they have overlapped to the point where the words are, in fact, merged. It's pretty basic mathematics. Perhaps a line graph would help to clarify the relationship between time (independent variable) and number of species of flowers eaten by humans (dependent variable):

If you're anything like us, you'll have some questions surrounding the marriage between food and flora. For example:

1. Do the flowers actually taste any good in their own right? (TASTE TEST! Fist pump.)
2. Is there much else you can do with them, other than scatter them about?
3. Do they have any nutritional value?
4. Does their aesthetic value alone justify their inclusion on our plates?
5. What are the edible flowers that are suitable for our region?
6. How do the experts grow them?
7. How are the experts using them?
8. Can we forage any in our area?
9. Do I have edible flowers in my garden that I'm overlooking as a food source?

It's well and truly spring time, and the weather has finally got on board. What better way to celebrate than to check out all things flowery and tasty? We are going to start this Thing Worth Doing with a literature review and an inventory of the edible flowers in our own gardens. We'll then visit some clever local experts in the field for some advice on how to grow and prepare flowers for eating, and we'll see what we can forage from our own neighbourhoods (note to self: check the difference between 'foraging' and 'sneaking flowers from front yards on an evening walk'). All the while, we'll be taste testing at every conceivable opportunity. And of course, The Thing wouldn't be complete without a culminating performance: Get out your Liberty Print frocks: it's a pre-Christmas floral tea party!