In honor of the Macy's Flower Show in NYC, Macy’s Cellar Bar and Grill is serving a Flower Show Salad.
photo: Patina Restaurant Group
Just in time for spring, edible flowers are sprouting up in restaurants all over. Fancy Chinese Kai Mayfair even offers a special three-course edible flower menu. Have you ever wondered which kinds of flowers are safe to eat and how they taste?
Primroses, violets, roses, lavender, day lilies and many more are all consumable. According to Kathy Brown, owner of The Manor House Garden located 50 miles outside of London and author of The Edible Flower Garden, these blossoms taste just the way you’d think they would.
"Imagine the scent of the most perfumed rose – that’s what rose sorbet or rose butter icing on a cake taste like. Imagine the pungent glorious smell of lavender – that’s the flavor of lavender jelly or lavender-chicken casserole," Brown said.
The more heavily scented the flower, the more flavorful it tends be, but even then it’s unlikely it will overpower the dish. In fact, many edible flowers, such as hollyhock, have very little flavor. Ultimately, edible flowers aren’t about adding seasoning or flavor; they’re used to add color, texture and personality to a dish, according to Brown.
"They quite literally transform a meal,” Brown says. Lilacs and marigolds add splashes of vibrant color while primroses and day lilies add distinctive texture (smoothness and crunchiness respectively).
Floral enthusiasts, take heed: there’s no way to determine whether or not a flower can be eaten just by looking at it. Consult guides, like Brown’s book, for a list of permissible flowers. And, Brown, warns, never eat store-purchased flowers because they could be doused in various chemicals. Eat only restaurant-prepared edible flowers or, if you’re feeling horticultural, flowers you have grown yourself.
People with springtime allergies may be nervous about consuming flowers, but they probably have little reason to worry. That's because most are allergic to tree pollen not flowers, according to Dr. William Reisacher, an ear, nose and throat specialist at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York City. You may not want to go overboard with the edible blooms the first time you try them since you don't know if you'll have a reaction. Keep your allergy in the back of your mind and, as Dr. Reisacher says, “be cautious.”
– Emily Hirsch