One way to prevent your wilting flowers from going to waste is to eat them. Yes, eat the flowers. Our sources in Thailand inform us that Dianthus (see above photo) and Verbena flowers are edible, “but”, she says, “only the petals are edible”. So naturally, we wonder “is it nutritious?”. One duckduckgo search later and we find ourselves with the delightful Emine Saner of The Guardian who coincidentally sports a somewhat similar headline as ours. Emine, presumably speaking from personal experience, finds that dianthus has a peppery flavor, but says nothing of nutrition or health benefits. Moving onto BHG (an impossible site by the way for those with slow connections). It also mentions dianthus to be of a “spicily fragrant” flavor yet it also divulges nothing on nutrition or health benefits. However, not to worry, reader. In the end, we know we can always turn to the helpful but often not very helpful advice of our fellow in arms, a certain Friedrich N., who is known to have said something along the lines of “Well, shit. If it doesn’t ______ you, then it makes you __________r.”
Happy Eats, Bloomsday!
Verbena flowers grown in Thailand. Edible, and destined to become garnish.
Section for edible flowers in a local garden in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
A mélange of edible flowers from Thailand.
Photos courtesy of Kristina Anderson.
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