At our farmers' market, there is a vendor who specializes in pea shoots during the spring when other greens are in short supply.
Other edible flowers - borage (think of a hairy cucumber and that describes the texture and taste), coreopsis, violets, okra, dandelions.

I've taken to grazing flowers in my yard (and if it seems safe, elsewhere) quite often, I think they are an overlooked delicacy. Many local sages - pineapple, white, black, clevelandi, ... Almost all brassicas, I almost prefer broccoli flowers to broccoli florets, I definitely do kale flowers. Most berry petals. Basil and cilantro flowers are great raw and cooked. Borage, wild radish, wild mustard, fennel. And a big favorite, rose petals.

I like nastitutiums. Sort of taste like mild radish. Watch out for aphids, though. They seem to be an aphid trap. Unless you feel like eating aphid protein, yuck.

Calendula, aka pot marigolds have various health properties and the petals are shades of bight orange and yellow.
In my climate, the flower through winter.
I eat the flowers of most edibles: rocket, coriander, chives, chervil...

the johnny's selected seed catalog is a good reference for what blossoms are edible...

pansies, dianthus, nasturtium, calendula, pea, thai basil, pineapple sage, arugula, all brasicas, garlic chive, mints, and of course, squash blossoms are the primary ones i sell to restaurants...

squash blossoms are one of the highest dollar items i grow.
nasturtiums are the tastiest for salads imo.

pea shoots sell great year round for me both to the restaurants and at the farmers market. i have come to look on growing actual peas as an inconvenience since they are so labor intensive to harvest...

daylilies, of course. Plentiful, in time with spring lettuce, and you can pick them with abandon, they are going to wilt the next day anyway. I eat almost anything, from whole animals to brussels sprout tops, but borage flowers are unpalatable even for me.

Wow, great suggestions. And what a thought - that peas could be an inconvenience compared to the shoots. Now I have to try them. One flower that i forgot to mention that I use is the blooms of malibar spinach. I even put those in omelets. Yup - I think I'll pass on the borrage.

Right now in the the new greenhouse, I'm expecting zuccini blossoms real soon and have peas in a container growing up a cage. I'll look forward to trying the shoots real soon. It would seem that I'm safe plucking those male blossoms off the cukes - they won't amount to much in a mouthful, but should brighten up a winter salad.

Have any of you tasted hycinth bean flowers? That is one plant that I plan to grow in abandon next summer - the blossoms are so incredible. I understand they do eat the flowers in many parts of the world. Just wondering how they will taste. I'll let you know next summer.....

only way i've liked borage flowers is candied so all you taste is sugar...

I'm glad you are still around biscgolf. I wanted to ask - on the squash blossoms, how long will they last after being picked, how would you recommend storing them, and how many would make a typical serving?

I've only had squash blossom one time at a meeting. A tray of fried, stuffed blossom was passed around. It was not real impressive, but I'm thinking fresh and cooked to my taste, they could be wonderful. I only have four squash plants in the small greenhouse, so will have a limited supply of blossoms.
Carol

I have eaten nasturiums (peppery flavor) and a pansy flower. Not much flavor to the pansy. The rest sound quite interesting. I plan to grow Borage from seeds next year. I never knew how many flowers were edible. Thanks!

Lavender flowers is all I can think of that I don't think has been mentioned yet.

Regards
Nick

carol- truthfully imo the squash blossom is primarily a pretty carrier for whatever is stuffed in it- i don't find them that great on their own... the size varies so much that it's hard to set a "serving size" as well... generally i would say 3 or so lightly breaded and stuffed with a goat cheese/herb mix and fried would make a good start.

while they are said to be super fragile and shortlived i find they will last several days if refrigerated and bagged upon cutting- don't wash them until you are ready to use them as getting them wet shortens the life span... (then of course, you have to get them dry again for the batter or breading to stick...)

one of the restaurants i sell to uses them exclusively on weekends and they receive their delivery on wednesday...

I don't eat borage flowers: can't be bothered removing the hairy bit. They're exclusively for the bumblebees.
When I worked in restaurants, we'd generally get flowers with a tiny zucch attached. Much more going on in the way of flavour, but I'd need a few plants.

Thanks everyone for the imput. I can't wait to try the squash blossoms to experiment with.

feijoas - you may just have the answer of what to do with a glut of zukes when summer goes wild. It would be much easier to eat three little blossom zukes than three big ones.....

I grew and ate nasturtium and didn't care for them. I think I remember them being spicy, odd flavor.

Hey Franktank - I bet with a little honey mustard dressing the nasturtiums would taste a whole lot better. Seriously, though, when you put a few nasturtiums on top of a salad, it becomes a work of art - or better yet, a work of nature. The dish just glows. And food that looks better always tastes better. Try it and you will see what I mean. I think the same will hold true with other flowers, and that is why this quest to see what is edible.

I'm sure a salad would look a lot different with pansies or lavender flowers than they would with nasturtiums. The same would be true of the other edible blossoms. My favorite with nasturtiums is a spinach salad with a little finely shredded motzeralla cheese (can you tell I can't spell) and honey mustard dressing. A few mushrooms work well and any other greens with it. It must be dinner time, this is making me hungry.

I had to look up what Sunset mag said on this, here's their list:
Our favorite salad flowers

Bachelor's buttons
Borage
Calendulas
Carnations
Herb flowers (basil, chives, rosemary)
Nasturtiums
Violas, including pansies and Johnny-jump-ups
Stock

No list I saw included brassica flowers, which upon reflection, are really my favorite kind for salads. Either fully open or as flower buds, it's easy to let some cole crops go towards seed (or to get some use from a plant that's failed to head or been infested). Bok choi comes to mind, as I'm always overplanting it.

I sometimes use scarlet runner bean flowers in a salad. They are bright orange and have a very mild beany flavor.

I make the squash blossoms into a soup pur�ed with some immature squash and the female squash blossoms include. Absolutely delicious!
I'd like to try borage, I heard it was a nice flavoring for ice cubes, kind of like cucumber flavoring. I'm planting some this winter for early spring.
I'll also have to try the scarlet runner bean since I can't ever get the beans to set here anyway.
I may plant hyacinth beans here next summer as an ornamental vine outside my chicken pens and up my trees.

If you like nasturium seeds - perhaps a try at pickling them would be of interest. Supposed to taste like the more expensive capers.

I thought they were a bit too spicy/tangy however, much prefering the capers.

Bejay

i'm surprised the new zealander with the name "feijoa" hasn't mentioned pineapple guava. they have some of the best tasting flowers, very sweet. however z6 you would have to grow in containers and bring indoors for winter.

nasturtium do have a spicy taste to them
i like borage flowers, celery like taste and bees like them as well

Here is a link that might be useful: Nasturtium Risotto

A great many flowers are edible, in fact they are the most edible part of the plant ie. least poisonous, though they are rarely especially tasty - nasturtium and squash family are an exception. Sunflower petals look great sprinkled on almost any food. If you fancy anything really odd and unusual try fuchsia. Or you could go really wild and put an orchid (Laelia) - Ian.

melikeeatplants: how remiss of me! Actually, I only discovered the tastiness of feijoa flowers last year.
I can't think of many flowers from non-toxic plants that are actually yucky. I've never tried solanum blossoms and I imagine they wouldn't be good, but I think most flowers would taste at least ok.

Wow!! great ideas for flowers, and I guess they are not just for salads anymore. I have not grown fuchsia since I left California 20 years ago, and they are sooo pretty. Will definately grow some in the spring. I have a new greenhouse and have not found any unwanted bugs (spiders, yes, and I'm trying to be brave about having them around)so I am kind of paranoid about bringing in plants. Unfortunately, folks bring beautiful gifts and they stay. So far so good. But it sounds like it is now open season on blossom in sight.

Moring oleifera flowers are good for salad as well as soup.

Don't forget the lowly dandelion - they say they make great wine - but haven't tried that one - at least not yet. It would seem that a large area of "lions" would be needed to make a gallon of wine tho.

Bejay

Radish flowers are pretty good although I like the pods even better.

This is in my experience the best book on the subject. I grow them for restaurants - over 50 different crops - but this is a great place to start.

Here is a link that might be useful: Edible Flowers by Barash

Thanks for that suggestion! I ordered the book on Amazon and it came yesterday. Its inspiring as well as informative. I never would have thought of eating redbud flowers. There was a great sounding recipe for okra blossoms - I'll have to plant extra next year.

I knew that rose hips are very nutritious, but never ate blossoms. Multiflora rose grows so crazy around here it becomes a problem. Next spring, the bouquets I pick will become part of the meal....

And speaking of wild flowers, chickory is so pretty. It used to be used as a coffee substitute, but I'm now dreaming of ways to use the pretty blue petals. I have a great recipe for a cold strawberry soup. Now I'm thinking of making a 'blue soup' from the chickory - just enough to stir a swirl into the strawberry. Garnish with berries and blue petals. How beautiful that would be, and I bet the taste contrast would be very pleasant.

One thing that really blew me away was the recipes for cooking and using red clover. I have overseeded the pastures with red and white clovers, knowing they would provide excellent grazing and improve the grass stands. But I had never realized that I might be missing one of the tastiest foods around for my own dining. Do any of you use clovers????
Carol

When the season works in my favor, I sell a fourth of July edible flower mix with Borage, white dianthus, and pineapple sage blossoms. You could do the same with borage flowers floating in your strawberry soup with a swirl if creme fraiche. Enjoy the book.

I just bought a tea called "cream earl gray" and it has the prettiest blue bits of cornflowers.