Lettuce eat flowers

It’s spring blooming season - or as some may call it, the beginning of pollen allergy season. But no matter how sneezy the days get, it’s hard to deny that flowers, along with the warmer sunlight, bring a sense of renewal and ease, lifting us gently from the weight of winter blues.

Flowers, however, are more than just eye candy. Beyond their contrast with today’s sleek modern culinary trends, edible flowers have been cherished across cultures for their nutrition, medicinal properties, and symbolic meaning. Indigenous communities across the Americas, along with countless others around the world, have long valued flowers as an essential part of the diet.

Many herb flowers are edible and share flavor similarities with their leafy parts - chive, borage, and bee balm, to name a few. But others surprise you. One of my favorite edible flowers is the ginger blossom. While ginger root is known for its spicy heat, its blossoms offer a sweet, creamy aroma and a gentle, refreshing taste with a mild hint of sweetness. Popular in soups and seasoning mixes across Asia, ginger blossoms can also be brewed into herbal teas to calm the stomach or soothe a cold. Sadly, ginger is tough to grow in southern Utah - even with a greenhouse or high tunnel.

Growing up in tropical Asia and raised as a world traveler, I was surrounded by edible flowers. Eating fresh, seasonal blooms is just part of daily life in many cultures. One iconic example is the Southeast Asian flower salad - featuring ginger blossoms, banana flower buds, lotus petals, squash blossoms, and taro flowers. It’s a vibrant “business card” of local cuisine that draws tourists into its sensory world.

Though those ingredients are hard to find here in southern Utah, we can still craft our own summer flower salad using garden accessible blooms: nasturtium, borage, calendula, and marigold tossed with arugula or leafy greens, then topped with chopped nuts and dried fruit. This simple dish bursts with antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds, and its layered flavors often mean you can skip the dressing (which, let’s be honest, is usually a sneaky calorie bomb). On the cooler end of the calendar, pansies and violas are winter- hardy blooms that brighten up cold seasons and salad bowls alike. Their soft texture and mild, slightly sweet taste make them great for both fresh dishes and as dried edible confetti on baked goods or fancy drinks.

Other warm-season floral foods include squash blossoms, hibiscus, and rose petals - all common garden beauties with edible perks. But a word of caution - just because something is edible somewhere doesn’t mean it’s ready to eat fresh out of the garden. Take yellow daylilies, for example. While they’re a delicacy in many Asian cuisines, the fresh flowers contain high levels of colchicine - the active ingredient in some prescription gout medications. Eating even a cooked daylily without proper prep can cause serious illness. Safely processing them involves repeated blanching and drying of unopened buds over several days. So always do your homework before munching on any bloom.

When we visit nearby national parks or monuments, we often learn how Indigenous tribes use native seasonal flowers for nutrition and medicine. By learning from these traditions, we not only support our health but also help preserve cultural knowledge.

One native North American herb, Anise Hyssop, has lovely licorice-scented purple flowers that have been brewed into cooling summer teas for thousands of years - and even folded into baked goods. Another favorite among Indigenous communities (and me!) is the redbud. These vibrant spring flowers are rich in antioxidants and add a rosy-magenta color to anything they touch.

My favorite way to enjoy redbuds? A small batch spring syrup that’s as beautiful as it is tasty. Here’s how to make it:

Easy Redbud Syrup

• 1 cup fresh redbud blossoms

• 1 1/2 cups water

• 1/2 cup rock cane sugar (As an Asian with visiting parents, I use about half that amount - so adjust to your liking!)

• 3 tbsp lemon or lime juice

1. Gently rinse and clean the redbuds.

2. Boil the water and add the flowers. Let boil for no more than 30 seconds to preserve color and antioxidants. Then remove from heat and let steep overnight.

3. Strain out the flowers (they’ll be colorless now) and gently heat the liquid - just enough to dissolve the sugar. Keep it under 150°F (65°C) to maintain the color.

4. Add lemon or lime juice and enjoy the magical color change! Bottle and store in the fridge.

It’s best consumed fresh and lasts about a week.