Friday Food for Thought—More on Edible Flowers

At last Sunday’s family dinner I served a Lavender-flavored Fruit Crisp for dessert—the recipe posted last Friday. I used frozen blueberries and cranberries because fresh blueberries were crazy expensive and I already had a bag of cranberries in the freezer. I added a full teaspoon of lavender, made the topping with chopped pecans, and served it warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

When we were finished eating, my daughter asked, “Is there lavender in this?” My mother-in-law was surprised and sounded a little concerned as she asked, “Can you eat lavender?”

Yes, lavender is deliciously edible!

The only thing I would change about this recipe is the amount of sugar. Three-quarters of a cup of granulated sugar mixed with the fruit made it a bit too sweet. Next time I’ll cut that back by one-eighth and see if that makes a difference. My husband thinks it was too flowery and that I should cut back on the lavender, too. I thought that suggestion lacked conviction because he all but licked his dessert plate clean.

My research on gourmet flowers led me to epicurean.com, which has a fabulous glossary of edible petals and their uses. HowStuffWorks.com also has some great suggestions for serving edible flowers.

I still haven’t potted any pansies, but that’s on this weekend’s ToDo List. They’ll be great in salads. Pansies also remind me of my grandmother because they were one of her favorite flowers. When I was very young, she showed me the “kitten’s face” on the pansies in her garden. I still think of her when I see—or eat!—a pansy.

Until next time,
Lee