Edible Flowers - Daylillies

There are a lot of edible flowers in our area. One that is blooming right now and is easily identified is the daylilly. It is tasty and beautiful. And makes a great decoration on top of your salad.

I got these 8 simple rules for edible flowers from
The Dirt Doctor Website
and I think that they are good ones.

8 RULES FOR EDIBLE FLOWERS

1. Not all flowers are edible. Some are poisonous. Learn the difference.

2. Eat flowers only when you are positive they are edible and non-toxic.

3. Eat only flowers that have been grown organically.

4. Do not eat flowers from florists, nurseries or garden centers unless you know they’ve been maintained organically.

5. Do not eat flowers if you have hay fever, asthma or allergies.

6. Do not eat flowers growing on the side of the road.

7. Remove pistils and stamens from flowers before eating. Eat only the petals of the larger flowers.

8. Introduce flowers into your diet the way you would new foods to a baby - one at a time in small quantities.

Note: Pregnant women should avoid all strong herbs and no plant should be ingested in excess by anyone at anytime. None of these plants should be eaten unless they have been grown organically. Edible flowers can be used to enhance food at breakfast, lunch and dinner. They can also be used in teas. Here are some of the best edible flower choices.

Violets - Another Great Edible Wild Plant

Violets are another great edible plant that is growing right now. Here is some interesting information I found on the internet about them.

"There are over fifty species of violets in this part of the United States. The blue violet of our meadows and woodlands is one of the most common and can therefore be gathered. Although the violets are spring bloomers, they often produce flowers again in late summer. Interestingly, many of these buds never open but fertilize themselves internally and produce seeds. The violet, like another common species jewelweed, has a unique method of seed dispersal. As the capsule dries, it compresses the seeds which are shot out as much as four to five feet! The fresh young leaves have long been used raw in salads or cooked as greens. They are high in both vitamins A and C: a welcome addition to our ancestor's winter diet of dried and preserved foods. In fact, both the leaves and flowers have three times the amount of vitamin C as does an orange. The delightful blue flower can be used as a colorful garnish for any type of confection.

For a pretty candy, dip the flowers in boiled and cooled sugar water and allow to harden on waxed paper. The flowers also produce a tasty jelly and syrup."

I personally eat the leaves and flowers in salads. Delicious! Again, as with any wild food, never eat anything you are not absolutely sure you have identified correctly.

Edible Wild Food - Garlic Mustard

A lot of my favorite wild foods grow in Springtime. I often have a fresh picked, wild salad from my backyard at dinner time. One of my favorite wild greens is garlic mustard. I love it's slightly bitter, garlicy flavor and it's great served with dandelion greens, violets, and fiddleheads. Delicious! Now is a good time to pick garlic mustard, it is in flower and easier to recognize. It gets more bitter as the season progresses, and will be gone by June. As always, don't pick and eat anything unless you are sure you have identified it correctly.

Here is some more information on garlic mustard:

Garlic mustard is a cool season biennial herb with stalked, triangular to heart-shaped, coarsely toothed leaves that give off an odor of garlic when crushed. First-year plants appear as a rosette of green leaves close to the ground. Rosettes remain green through the winter and develop into mature flowering plants the following spring. Flowering plants of garlic mustard reach from 2 to 3-½ feet in height and produce buttonlike clusters of small white flowers, each with four petals in the shape of a cross.

Garlic mustard is very invasive and poses a severe threat to native plants and animals in forest communities in much of the eastern and midwestern U.S. Many native widlflowers that complete their life cycles in the springtime (e.g., spring beauty, wild ginger, bloodroot, Dutchman's breeches, hepatica, toothworts, and trilliums) occur in the same habitat as garlic mustard. Once introduced to an area, garlic mustard outcompetes native plants by aggressively monopolizing light, moisture, nutrients, soil and space. Wildlife species that depend on these early plants for their foliage, pollen, nectar, fruits, seeds and roots, are deprived of these essential food sources when garlic mustard replaces them.

I found the information above at the National Park Service website. Check it out if you want to read more about garlic mustard.

National Park Service - Garlic Mustard