Summer Edible Flowers

The garden is bursting with summertime edible flowers right now. Petunias work well as little bowls to hold butter balls, or simply stuffed with pate. In the tea room, we like to pipe a little French Style Cheese Spread into the center of the petunia and place each one on an individual wheat cracker. This is such a pretty and unique presentation for cheese and crackers. This French Style Cheese Spread is one of our best sellers. It's a quick and easy way to make your own 'Boursin' cheese.

Roses are a classic edible flower. One that we have used to make rose petal sandwiches with for 5 decades. We use a cream cheese softened with just a wee bit of rose water and spread on the bread. Place the clean rose petals atop the spread for a charming and delicious rose petal sandwich. Rose petal sandwiches can be considered the first tea sandwiches that Nancy ever made! She would help her mother prepare for garden parties at The Rosemary House by making these sandwiches. In the early years, mom, Bertha Reppert, would host garden tours and tea parties at no charge to introduce the world of herbs to the community. Rose petal sandwiches were offered along with strawberries dipped in vanilla flavored confectioner's sugar. Sweet brown sugar sesame seed crackers rounded out the offering along with fresh mint tea.

Dianthus flowers are so fun because they come in such a large variety of colors. Pinks, whites, reds, stripes, purples and even some blues. You can find the perfect color to compliment every dish. Toss these into a salad for a quick pick-me-up and beautiful contrast to salad greens.

All marigold flowers are edible but remember they taste like they smell!  Bold! This little marigold is called Tangerine Gem and it is probably our favorite. It tastes great and is a nice small size to float in a water glass or to decorate a lemon tartlet. There is also a Lemon Gem marigold that is very similar. Edible flowers add the element of surprise to your presentation and can really make a simple dish very elegant.

Day lilies are a wonderful edible flower but they only last one day so you must pick the one that opened just that morning.


Of course, in order to be an edible flower, they must not be sprayed with any pesticides and grown in organic conditions. Always make certain you know which flowers are edible before using them!