Normally, this is where we'd write something clever about April showers bringing May flowers, but honestly, we're so entranced by the incredible array of edible blooms available at farmers' markets these days that we can't come up with suitable wordplay.
Instead, we're just hungry: We're gazing at these treasure troves of riotous colors and shapes-- saffron petals bursting from knobbly centers; fat, foppish blossoms in vibrant crimson; long stems dripping with tawny blooms--and finding ourselves deeply curious about their distinctive flavors. I mean, we've eaten plenty of fried zucchini blossoms and the occasional sugared rose, but what to do with arugula flowers and Sichuan buttons?
We've rounded up a selection of 8 flowers that you can find at your local market or gourmet store right now, and we asked David Kinch, chef-owner of Manresa in Los Gatos, CA, and Dan Kluger, executive chef at ABC Kitchen in New York, to share their insights on cooking with each variety.
Scientific name: Tropaeolum
Flavor profile: Slight sweetness, pepper, spice, bitterness
Growing in an array of flirtatious hues, the exotic-looking nasturtium packs an equally vibrant flavor that starts out slightly sweet before developing into a peppery, spicy finish. It's been Kluger's favorite flower to work with, ever since a chef at Jean-Georges introduced him to a simple nasturtium vinaigrette made with shallots, vinegar, and oil poured over a halibut dish. "You get a little bitterness from it, which really works with the vinegar," he says. "The flavor isn't incredibly strong, but it kind of infuses the vinegar with that beautiful orange color and specks of flowers."
Scientific name: Acmella oleracea
__Flavor profile:__Electric!
Known as "buzz buttons", these sunny Brazilian buds can play tricks on unsuspecting eaters. The flavor quickly turns from an initial grassiness to, well, not a flavor at all: just pure, electric tingling akin to "licking a car battery," as Kinch puts it. Kluger says, "We played around with them on a couple of dishes, but we found that, for our food, they're too strong." Although the flowers do impart a slight acidic taste, they're more often used as an effect, for the sensations they induce--or as a home remedy for toothaches.
Scientific name: Of the Brassicaceae family
Flavor profile: Spice, bitterness, mustard
With a flavor and texture similar to broccoli rabe, mustard florets are an approachable gateway bud for those first experimenting with edible flowers. Use them whenever you want to zest up a dish with some, well, mustard notes. "They add a nice bitterness and punch without adding a vinaigrette," Kluger explains. "Right now, we do an asparagus salad with a mustard vinaigrette, and I think sprinkling those in and making the vinaigrette less mustard-y would complement the salad really well." Plus, they look really pretty.
Scientific name: Borago officinalis
Flavor profile: Mineral, cucumber, oyster
These tiny stars are imbued with a clean minerality that reminds some of cucumbers and others of shellfish. In her flower-centric cookbook, Cooking with Flowers, Miche Bacher of the Greenport, NY, bakery Mali B Sweets boils the blossoms in a simple syrup, which she then shakes into a tasty basil-cucumber-vodka cocktail. Kluger focuses in on another note that bursts from these flowers: oyster. "Jean-Georges says they have this kind of briny flavor--a sea flavor," Kluger says. He likes to add them to salads and says a strawberry-borage combo is in the works, but, naturally, agrees that they would "work well with vodka."
Scientific name: Viola tricolor hortensis
Flavor profile: Mild citrus, mint
The sweetness of these petals--in both flavor and appearance--makes them prime candidates for use in desserts and salads. In her cookbook, Bacher recommends popping them into crepes and tarts, or even boiling them into a vibrant simple syrup (purple buds result in a stunning violet-hued syrup, no food coloring required). Kinch sprinkles them onto his salads, proving they can serve as a beautiful, delicate garnish for nearly anything that needs pretty-ing.
Scientific name: Calendula
Flavor profile: Pepper
These bold, waxy-petaled blossoms are commonly used in homeopathic remedies for their skin-soothing and anti-inflammatory properties. Lucky for us, they also look gorgeous and have a spicy essence ideal for amping up simple dishes. Kinch loves to "scatter the petals like confetti" on salads that could use a pop of color and spice, while Kluger sometimes uses them in place of nasturtium. Mix them into rice and egg dishes, and, like with saffron, they'll wind up tinted with some of that celebratory orange hue.
Scientific name: Eruca sativa
Flavor profile: Pepper, spice, grass
You can think of these ivory flowers as relatively interchangeable with their namesake leaf, but so much prettier. In general, edible flowers "taste a lot like the plant or vegetable they come from--but I like to think of them as little starbursts, pops of flavor in your mouth," Kinch says. "There's no fat involved, and it's a great way to add complexity to a dish." Toss these ones in liberally with salad greens for an extra hit of pepper.
Scientific name: Lavandula
Flavor profile: Sweet, aromatic, herbaceous
This herb lends a distinctive floral layer to any dish. Although most often encountered in sweets like ice cream or pastries, lavender goes just as well in savory dishes. "We've done an infusion with vinegar on a fluke dish; the lavender vinegar became a dressing," Dan says. The heady scent/flavor combination does well in cocktails, too: try shaking up a few sprigs' worth with lemon juice, St. Germain, and gin. Topped with seltzer (or Champagne!), you've got an herbaceous and perfectly spring-y refreshment.
Note: When choosing blooms for culinary preparation, it's crucial that you get them from a safe source that ensures they haven't been in contact with any pesticides or preservatives. This rules out most florists unless otherwise specified, and picking wild flowers is only a good idea if you're very familiar with the rules of safe foraging.
When she's not busy eating her way across the globe, Bianca Prum lives and writes in New York. You can find more of her work at biancamale.wordpress.com.