Edible Flowers: 10 Varieties You Can Grow Yourself

Flowers turn a salad into an eye-catcher and add colour and flavour to desserts, drinks and butter. Many flowers from the garden and the balcony are edible. Here we introduce ten varieties, tell you how they taste and how to use them, and what to watch out for when it comes to safety.

Safety first

Only eat flowers you can identify with certainty. Some ornamental plants are poisonous, for example lily of the valley, foxglove or monkshood.
Only unsprayed flowers. Flowers from the florist or garden centre are often treated with pesticides. They are not meant to be eaten.
Ideally, grow them yourself. Then you know what has gone onto the plant.
Start small. Try new flowers in small amounts first.

10 edible flowers

1. Nasturtium. Orange, yellow and red flowers with a hot, peppery taste, similar to cress. Good in salads and on bread. The leaves are edible too.
2. Pot marigold. Bright yellow to orange. The petals taste mild and slightly tangy. They colour rice, soups and butter yellow. Our Pot marigold also grows indoors.
3. Cornflower. Deep blue and mild in taste. The petals make a pretty decoration for salads, cakes and drinks. To grow your own, there's the Cornflower.
4. Borage. Small blue star-shaped flowers with a light cucumber flavour. They go well in summer drinks and with salad.
5. Horned violet. Small flowers in many colours, mild and slightly sweet. They're a popular cake decoration and can be candied.
6. Daisy. Grows on almost every lawn. The flowers taste mild to slightly nutty. Ideal for salads and herb quark.
7. Chive flowers. The purple balls taste of mild onion. Pull them apart into single florets and scatter them over salad or scrambled eggs. Tip: Chives flower in a pot too.
8. Herb flowers. Basil, thyme, rocket and coriander all have edible flowers. The flowers taste like the herb, just a little milder. For example Thyme or Rocket.
9. Sunflower. The yellow petals taste slightly nutty and bring colour to any salad. Compact varieties like the Little Sunshine dwarf sunflower also fit in pots.
10. Courgette flowers. Large, mild and a classic of Italian cooking: stuffed with ricotta and briefly fried.

Grow them instead of buying them

Edible flowers from the shop are expensive and wilt quickly. Grown yourself, you have them fresh whenever you need them. Most of the varieties above are easy: you sow pot marigold, cornflower, nasturtium and borage straight into the bed or a balcony box in April or May. Herbs and chives flower by themselves if you let them grow for a while. Our Indoor sowing calendar shows you what to start when.

Harvesting right

Harvest in the morning, once the dew has dried. Then the flowers are fresh and full of flavour.
Freshly opened flowers taste best.
Shake them gently instead of washing them. Water makes the petals soggy.
Use them soon. In the fridge, they keep for one to two days in a box with damp kitchen paper.
With many varieties, eat only the petals. The calyx and stem are often tough or bitter.

Ideas for the kitchen

Flower salad. Mixed leaves with nasturtium, cornflower and pot marigold.
Flower butter. Stir chopped petals and a little salt into soft butter.
Flower ice cubes. Freeze borage or horned violets in ice cube trays. Pretty in herb lemonade.
Cake decoration. Horned violets and cornflowers on cakes and cupcakes.
Herb quark. Stir in daisies and chive flowers.

Flowers and herbs in the GreenBox

In the GreenBox, herbs and compact flowers grow all year round in your kitchen. The seeds germinate in PlantPlugs, the GreenBox takes care of light and schedule, and the app reminds you to top up. So you have fresh herbs even in winter, and when they flower, edible flowers as well.

Learn more about the GreenBox