LADYBUG SAYS... EDIBLE FLOWERS ADD NEW FLAVORS TO MANY DISHES

"Please Don't Eat the Daisies" was the title of a book a few years ago.

However, modern day scientists, environmentalists and health food enthusiasts, say "Do eat the calendula, chrysanthemums, geraniums, dianthyus, nasturtiums, roses, violas, pansies and lavender." It is incredible how many flowers, or parts of flowers, have come into use as edible foods the past few years.

Eye appeal is not the only virtue of edible flowers. Actually many give new flavors with which to cook. There is the rich, aromatic flavor of roses, lavender or anise hyssop. These flavors are the more used ones, and the ones which will enrich your cooking, says Rosalind Creasy, who has written many articles on delicate edible flowers.

One must limit flower cookery to proven edible species, she says, and use only those grown organically. Toxic pesticides, not for human consumption, can be used on flowers, and would be harmful.

With some flowers, such as roses, calendulas, chrysanthemums and lavender, only the petals are edible. In other flowers, such as Johnny-jump-ups, violets, nasturtiums and daylilies, the whole flower can be eaten.

Some flowers, such as roses and dianthus, have a white portion at the base of the petal that can be quite bitter. If the flowers have such an area, remove it before using. Also remove the stamen of squash blossoms, she recommends.

Sweet and floral tasting blooms are best suited to desserts and fruit dishes. Savory types are best with dips, soups, salads and entrees, such as chive blossoms in dainty sandwiches and on onion dishes or salads. The sweet taste of roses and violets goes well with cakes, sorbets or pies, says the author.

My first introduction to flowers in cooking was by our good friend, Roberta (Bonnie) Duyff, of St. Louis who has written many textbooks on nutrition for use in secondary schools. An artist with food and flowers, she brought a salad to our home that was so beautifully decorated with the leaves and flowers of nasturtiums that one wanted to just sit and look upon its colorful presentation.

Bonnie's consulting work in nutrition and dietetics involves writing, teaching and developing print and nutrition-education materials. A former school coordinator/nutrition education consultant for the New England Dairy and Food Council, she holds a B.A. from the University of Illinois and an M.S. from Cornell University and is a Registered Dietitian.

A few years ago when we were host family to a young man from China, who was struggling with cooking in an apartment on SEMO campus, Bonnie brought him a book which she had co-authored, "Guide to Modern meals" which was beautifully illustrated with colorful photos including beautiful garnishes and accompaniments.

Possibly there is no other flower as popular for its edible qualities as the daylily. Both its tubers and blossoms are both edible. The fresh crisp tubers are delicious, also, eaten like radishes and chopped into a salad, says Louise Riotte in "Sleeping with a Sunflower", a treasury of old-time gardening lore.

It is called a "day lily" because that is what it is. Each lovely blossom's life is limited to one day. Its botanical name, Hemerocallis, means the fleeting pleasure of a day, from the Greek hemera ("day") and kallos ("beauty"). Its trumpets are typical of the lily family.

Almost every part of the daylily is edible, especially palatable with pork and soy sauce, as you might expect from its Chinese origin. Roots, buds and flowers are highly enjoyable in recipes for each part of the plant. Dig up a spadeful of roots from a clump and remove the small tubers, somewhat resembling small sweet potatoes, that nestle underneath. They are sweet to the taste, having a delicate flavor resembling broad beans with a background of whole sweet corn. The buds and flowers are culinary pleasures, whether fresh or dried, the author states.

"Rose Recipes from Olden Times" by Eleanour Sinclair Rohde has many recipes for the use of roses in fragrances, but none for the flowers as edible ones.

Although present day roses are cultivated mostly for their beauty, previous ages have not been so singularly narrow minded. Even at the turn of the century many persons, in appreciation of the fragrance, sweet flavor and medicinal virtues of the rose petals, hips and leaves, still took pleasure in traditional ways of using them. They made sweet waters, jams, jellies, salad, sauces and several kinds of confections with roses.

They also knew how to crystallize the petals, to preserve the buds, to flavor wine and vinegars with rose leaves and to use roses in many medicinal ways.

Although we have talked about edible flowers and plants, there is much printed about those which should not be eaten, such as lily-of-the valley, elderberrys, poinsettias, foxgloves, olender and Christmas rose.