Edible Flowers

Flowers have long been used in cuisines around the world, including ancient Rome, Greece, and China, and the practice is once again growing in popularity. Growing your own edible flowers will add beautiful color to the landscape as well as delicious flavors to your table, and you can control the conditions and safety of your edible flowers by following organic cultivation practices.

Precautions

Not all common flowers are edible, and even some edible flowers can cause discomfort if consumed in large quantities. Daylilies can act as a diuretic or a laxative, and apple blossoms have cyanide precursors, so always research the type of flower you plan to use before adding it to food.

Pesticides for flowers have not been tested to determine safety on food crops, so be very careful and make sure the flowers have not been sprayed with pesticides or other chemicals. For this reason you should avoid flowers from florists, nurseries, garden centers, and any growing by the roadside. Exercise caution if you have allergies, asthma, or hay fever as some flowers may cause a reaction.

The following is a brief list of common edible flowers in North America, but this list is not exhaustive. For more detailed information, you may want to consult an authoritative book on edible flowers or contact your state’s university cooperative extension. You can find a list of poisonous flowers at Wikipedia.

Herb Flowers

basil
chives
dill
lavender
mint
rosemary
sage
thyme

Ornamental Flowers

calendula
carnations
chamomile
chrysanthemum
daylilies
impatiens
Johnny-jump-up
nasturtiums
pansies
scented geraniums
tulips
violets

Trees & Shrubs

apple
fig
hibiscus
lilacs
peach
pear
plum
roses

Vegetables

arugula
broccoli
fennel
okra
squash

References

North Carolina State University, Department of Horticulture – Edible Flowers

Iowa State University Extension – Reiman Gardens: Edible Flowers

National Gardening Association – Edible Landscaping: Growing Edible Flowers in Your Garden

Wikipedia – Edible flowers

Wikipedia – Poisonous flowers

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This post was written by Andrea

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Fresh, Frozen, or Canned?

In my dream world, I walk out to my bountiful garden several times a day and pick whatever we need for the next meal, whether it’s tomatoes, onions, greens, cabbage, herbs, squash, eggplant, beans, corn, almonds, cashews, pecans, walnuts, berries, apples, plums, oranges, lemons, limes, mango, bananas, grapefruit, or passionfruit. All of these things are available year round and crops produce perfect yields, neither too much or too little. Now that is a dream! I would love to have all of those things growing in our yard year round, but like most people in the world the climate and soil type determines what we can grow and when, and the ever-changing weather affects the harvest. Some years we struggle to get enough and some years we have a bounty and store the excess.

When faced with an excess of produce from our garden, we preserve foods by freezing or canning, and each has its own benefits.

Pickled Green Tomatoes.

Freezing

Frozen fruits and vegetables are often nutritionally equal or even sometimes superior to fresh as they are usually frozen just after harvest, locking in the vitamins and minerals that would otherwise leech from the food if stored in the refrigerator or on the counter. Harmful organisms are not destroyed in the process, but the freezing temperature inhibits growth. Some vegetables and fruits can be frozen whole, such as tomatillos and berries, but others should be cut, such as zucchini and carrots. Spread out on a baking sheet the produce you plan to freeze and leave it in the freezer for at least one hour, then put into labeled freezer bags.

Leafy vegetables such as spinach should have stems completely removed. Many vegetables should be blanched or even cooked before freezing, but fruits are often frozen after rinsing clean. Herbs can be frozen as whole leaves or chopped and put into ice cube trays, then frozen. Store the whole frozen leaves in plastic containers and frozen cubes in plastic containers or bags.

Always label everything you freeze with the contents and the date. Storage time for frozen produce varies from 1 to 3 months, but that is based on quality of the product not safety. Properly frozen foods are safe indefinitely.

Frozen basil cubes.

Canning

The canning process applies heat to the food to kill any harmful organisms such as bacteria, molds, and yeasts and destroy enzymes and remove oxygen that break down food. Heat does break down some beneficial vitamins (C, thiamine, folate), but most are stable when heat is applied, so canned foods still have health benefits. Canning at home requires some basic equipment:

• boiling water canner or pressure canner
• jars and lids
• large pot for sterilizing jars and lids

Low acid foods such as vegetables and meats require a pressure canner to ensure the temperatures get high enough to destroy harmful microorganisms such as Clostridium botulinum, so don’t try to just boil them in an open pot. Fruits have enough acid and can be processed in an open pot (the boiling water method). Once you have canned your foods and the lids have properly sealed, they will be shelf stable for up to one year and can be stored without refrigeration until opened.

Canned jams and jellies.

We can pickles, jellies, jams, and fruit butters, and then freeze the rest. Last year we put up about 40 jars of canned goods and froze 5 pounds of tomatillos, several batches of pesto and frozen basil, and then slow roasted and froze about 5 pounds of leftover ripe tomatoes. We have enjoyed the bounty of our summer garden throughout the winter and are looking forward to doing it all over again this summer.

References

National Center for Home Food Preservation

National Center for Home Food Preservation – Freezing

National Center for Home Food Preservation – Canning

WebMD – Frozen Vegetables are Hot

U.S. Food and Drug Administration Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition

USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service – Focus on Freezing

University of Minnesota Extension – How to Prepare Vegetables for Freezing

Beyond Vegetarianism – Effects of Cooking on Vitamins

Andrea’s Recipes – Home Canning (Boiling Water Method)

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This post was written by Andrea

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Save Money on Your Food Bill: Start a Kitchen Garden

My husband and I have been growing our own vegetables and herbs for about 10 years. I started gardening by growing peppers, tomatoes, and herbs in pots on my apartment balcony and every year we try to have some kind of garden, both indoor and outdoor, no matter where we live or how much space we have. Some years have better yields than others, but we have always had a sense that we save money on produce and get the benefits of eating healthy foods without pesticides. We had never sat down and done the math on how much money we saved on our grocery bills, but we had done some calculations in our heads and felt confident that our efforts in the garden helped our food budget as well as our health.

Last week I got to read someone else's proof that growing your own produce is good for your food budget. Roger Doiron, the founder of Kitchen Gardeners International, published a post called "Economics of Home Gardening" which shared a detailed analysis of what his family had saved on all the produce they grew, and his statistics are amazing. He calculated their cost to run the garden and they weighed everything they harvested and calculated the cost using average prices from regular grocery stores, farmers markets, and Whole Foods. They spent US$282.00 to manage their garden, which included the cost of seeds and and supplies, soil testing, compost, and water. Their total harvest for the year was 833.79 pounds/376.03 kilos of produce. If they had purchased all of that produce rather than growing it themselves, their calculations showed they would have spent US$2,196.50 at average grocery store prices in their area, US$2,431.15 at their farmers market, and US$2,548.93 at Whole Foods.

Doiron's family grows a variety of produce, including tomatoes, potatoes, onions, various greens, beans, squash, herbs, and other things, in about 1600 square feet/148.644 square meters of growing space, which is quite large. In our own yard we had one 36 square feet/3.34450 square meter bed of growing space last year and had plenty of tomatoes, peppers, and herbs to last us for a couple months. This year we'll have 153 square feet/14.21 square meters and plan to grow a larger variety of produce. We're also going to try to extend the season with the cold frames that my husband built. I'm looking forward to getting our garden started this spring and enjoying even more savings in our food budget. We don't grow as much as Doiron does, but we believe every little bit helps, and his chart is proof of the economic benefits of growing our own produce.

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This post was written by Andrea

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Ginger: fun to plant, easy to cook

What lies beneath?

Yes, it's a "hand" of ginger -- from the supermarket -- that my friend Julia planted in her back yard. 

For all the ginger root I've cooked with over the years (and, by the way, we call it a root, though it's really a rhizome), I'd never thought to plant it. Leave it to Julia -- a chef by training, and a gardener by choice -- to think of this.

Buy an unwrinkled ginger rhizome at your local market; if you can find an organic one, that's best, but it's not necessary. Stick the whole thing into your garden, covered by a couple of inches of soil. Whenever you need ginger for a recipe, dig up the root, break off a piece, and replant.

Soon you'll see that your ginger has developed roots, and after that, green shoots (see the top photo) will emerge from the ground. As you can see in the bottom photo, the shoots will get quite tall, and indicate that there's a new knob, or "finger", of ginger forming.

Not only is this great fun, but you will have your choice of using the new ginger "finger" which is quite mild, or part of the original root, which is often more strong in flavor.

Be sure to dig up your root before the ground freezes. Next spring, buy a new "hand" of ginger, and start again!

WEST AFRICAN PEANUT SOUP
Adapted from Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant. Serves 8.

2 cups chopped onions
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp cayenne, or more to taste
1 tsp grated peeled fresh ginger
1 cup chopped peeled carrots
4 cups chopped sweet potatoes
4 cups chicken stock
2 cups V8 juice (or 1-1/2 cups tomato juice plus 1/2 cup water)
1 cup smooth peanut butter
1 Tbsp agave nectar
1/2 cup chopped scallions, chives or flat-leaf parsley

Saute the onions in the oil until just translucent. Stir in the cayenne and fresh ginger. Add the carrots and sauté a few more minutes. Mix in the potatoes and stock or water, bring the soup to a boil, and then simmer for about 15 minutes, until the vegetables are tender. With an immersion blender, if you have one, purée the vegetables with the cooking liquid and tomato juice. Return the purée to a soup pot. Stir in the peanut butter until smooth. Taste the soup. Its sweetness will depend on the sweetness of the carrots and sweet potatoes. If it’s not there naturally, add just a tiny bit of sugar to enhance the other flavors. Reheat the soup gently, using a heat diffuser if needed to prevent scorching. Add more water, stock or tomato juice for a thinner soup. Serve topped with plenty of chopped scallions or chives.

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This Post was written by Lydia from The Perfect Pantry

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Today, parents and teachers face endless challenges in raising their youngsters: the threat of childhood obesity, the relentless onslaught of marketing to kids resulting in a sharp preference for junk food, a global environment that seems to be getting more and more toxic and unpredictable, and so on. One simple idea that can be a positive step towards addressing many of these issues is: School Gardens.

Keeping in mind the space and resources available, a garden can be set up in the schoolyard in the soil (if it is rich and nutritious enough) or in raised garden boxes, or even in small recycled containers. Plants (herbs, fruits, vegetables, flowers) that are appropriate to the region can be grown. Children can start digging and sowing and watching as their garden takes shape. Parents, teachers and gardening experts can lend a helping hand and enjoy the garden alongside the kids.

Imagination runs wild when it comes to school gardens! Themed gardens are very popular: some of the ideas I came across were a butterfly garden, planted with nectar plants; an herb garden with a selection of aromatic herbs used in different cuisines; a rainbow garden planted with flowers of the appropriate colors planted in rows or arcs; and my favorite idea of all- a pizza garden planted with all the delicious vegetables that go into pizza- tomatoes, garlic, basil, and perhaps some toppings like zucchini and eggplant!

School gardens have benefits that touch upon every aspect of the child's development. When a whole class comes together to create a garden, it arouses a sense of community and an understanding of teamwork. The physical activity involved in taking care of the garden provides some welcome exercise and outdoor time spent away from the TV and computer screen. Most parents complain of children who refuse to touch vegetables and fruits- but the school
garden experience shows that children are eager to taste the produce that is grown with their own hands, which could be the beginning of a lifetime of healthy eating habits. Eating a tomato fresh off the vine may well the first taste of "real food" for a lot of kids who live on a steady diet of processed food. From an academic standpoint, a school garden provides a unique hands-on learning experience in every school subject that one can think of: ecology (eg. learning
about the interplay of plants, pollinators and pests), geography (eg. learning about climate, weather, and soils), botany (eg. studying the birth of a whole plant from a seed), history (eg. learning about how the origins of plants and how they "traveled" across the world), writing skills (eg. keeping a gardening journal). Perhaps the most important benefit of school gardens would be to make the child a better citizen of the world by cultivating earth-friendly attitudes: by completing the gardening cycle with a compost heap, or by setting up rain barrels and learning about water conservation. Indeed, the Edible Schoolyard in Berkeley, California, started by Chef Alice Waters, has pioneered the integration of organic gardening into every aspect of the school curriculum. School gardens are a blessing everywhere,
but they can truly transform schools in communities that are troubled by crime. Here, school gardens can provide a safe and pleasing haven to children, teach them valuable life skills, and give them a green space of their own. Studies by the National Gardening Association depict the heart-warming results of having school gardens- read their evaluation here.

For parents and teachers who want to take the lead in setting up school gardens in their own schools, there are many resources that you could turn to. The Edible Schoolyard hosts a wonderful resource page that could be a good starting point. Of course, search engines will provide many other pages of useful information on the internet. One could also use local know-how by contacting the garden clubs,
botanical gardens and nurseries in the area. Libraries can be counted upon for books related to gardening and local flora.

Of course, if the idea of starting something on a school-wide scale in not possible, one can always start gardening with kids in the home. It could begin with a simple project such as planting flowers in window boxes outside the child's room in spring, or planting a kitchen garden in summer. On a big scale or as a small venture, gardening with kids is a fruitful activity that is sure to blossom into good times and happy memories!



A big THANK YOU to Meeta for inviting me to join the team at the Daily Tiffin. I'll be back next month with an article on Kids with Cameras. See you then!

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This post was contributed by Nupur from One Hot Stove