Latest / Talking FACS / Explore the World of Edible Flowers

Transcript

Explore the World of Edible Flowers · Talking FACS

• 0:01
  Welcome to Talking FACS, what you need to know about family,
• 0:04
  food, finance, and fitness.
• 0:08
  This nationally recognized, award-winning podcast is hosted by the University
• 0:12
  of Kentucky Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Program.
• 0:15
  Our educators share research knowledge with individuals, families,
• 0:20
  and communities to improve quality of life.
• 0:24
  Many years ago, I enjoyed eating at the restaurant of a cutting-edge chef who
• 0:30
  served fried squash blossoms.
• 0:33
  And that was before everybody was serving fried squash blossoms.
• 0:38
  And now we are seeing all kinds of edible flowers on menus and in the magazines.
• 0:44
  And today on Talking FACS, we are going to learn more about how we can enjoy edible flowers.
• 0:53
  I am Mindy McCulley, your host of Talking FACS, and I am the Extension Specialist
• 0:58
  for Instructional Support with Family and Consumer Sciences Extension at the
• 1:02
  University of Kentucky.
• 1:04
  My guest today is Alexis Sheffield, an Extension Specialist for Horticulture
• 1:09
  with the Center for Crop Diversification.
• 1:12
  Welcome, Alexis. How are you? Hi, you got the long title.
• 1:16
  Of course, you're an FCS, so you're used to having all of these long titles,
• 1:20
  right? But yeah, it's great to be here. Thanks for having me.
• 1:23
  So edible flowers, it seems like they're everywhere now.
• 1:26
  We see them on wedding cakes. We see them on fancy plates in the magazines or
• 1:31
  on fancy plates in restaurants.
• 1:33
  But how can we enjoy those at home?
• 1:37
  Yeah, well, the good news is a lot of flowers are edible.
• 1:40
  Not all. And my first point is make sure you know what the flower is.
• 1:45
  You're confident in identifying it. And if you're not sure, guess what?
• 1:48
  You can send that to your local county extension office to confirm,
• 1:52
  but make sure that it is an edible flower.
• 1:54
  And there are lots and lots of them. And Mindy, you probably already know about
• 1:59
  this resource, but I absolutely love it.
• 2:01
  And maybe link it in the show notes is there is a really great publication from
• 2:06
  North Carolina State about choosing and using edible flowers.
• 2:10
  And so it has like a really nice, easy to look at table, colorful pictures.
• 2:15
  And I think that that one's a great thing to go through about all the different things you can grow.
• 2:20
  And a lot of it, you know, is something that maybe you're already growing for
• 2:23
  another purpose. So you mentioned squash blossoms.
• 2:26
  Day lilies also are edible. Things like violas, pansies, you know,
• 2:30
  your little Johnny Jump Ups in the springtime are edible.
• 2:33
  And so, you know, Basil, if you're already growing basil, you can also eat the flower.
• 2:37
  And so I think there's a lot of cool things where you can sort of have this edible landscaping.
• 2:42
  And those are also the pretty things you are going to grow anyways.
• 2:45
  And so I love that there's like a win-win situation there.
• 2:48
  Well, I did mention those squash blossoms, and I often wondered who was kind
• 2:52
  of getting duped on that because the chef was charging really expensive rates
• 2:57
  for his fried squash blossoms.
• 2:59
  I'm like, okay, I know that squash is one of those really prolific things in
• 3:04
  the garden. So is he getting duped by the producer who's charging,
• 3:09
  you know, exorbitant rates for the squash blossom?
• 3:12
  Or is he duping the consumer by charging really exorbitant rates for his fried squash blossoms?
• 3:19
  So I was like, I really don't know which way it goes. Well, I would say I'm not sure.
• 3:23
  But I would also say with flowers, they're going to be even more perishable
• 3:28
  than the vegetables we're used to.
• 3:30
  So if you think about like lettuce, right? We know lettuce wilts really quickly. Right.
• 3:34
  Well, it's like a lot of our flowers, even worse, especially squash blossoms.
• 3:38
  So, you know, that farmer has to know to pick, has to know what's available
• 3:43
  and most likely is delivering those same day.
• 3:45
  So we talk about, you know, farm to table right there.
• 3:48
  There's some good stuff, but ideally the best produce, best flowers are probably
• 3:52
  getting delivered within, absolutely within 12 hours, if not more.
• 3:56
  So there's kind of that, it's like rush shipping, right? You pay extra for rush shipping.
• 4:00
  And so really, yeah, if you're making them at home, they're super cheap,
• 4:04
  but getting them there is a different story.
• 4:07
  That is a good point. And then also we have to think about the fact that also
• 4:12
  enough about horticulture to know that if you're picking the blossom,
• 4:16
  then you're not going to have the fruit, right? Nailed it. Yeah, you got it.
• 4:20
  So we have to think about the fact that we are limiting the amount of produce
• 4:25
  that we're going to have if we're taking the flower away.
• 4:29
  Of course, squash is one of those things that's quite prolific,
• 4:32
  and so we can afford to use the flowers.
• 4:36
  But are there other things that
• 4:37
  we should perhaps not try to use so prolifically if we're going to limit,
• 4:44
  the amount of produce that wound up within the end. Yeah. I mean,
• 4:47
  usually a good rule of thumb, and I'm trying to think of some off the very top
• 4:52
  of my head, but wild blooms that are, especially if they're native,
• 4:56
  I mean, eat all the Japanese honeysuckle that you want because it's super invasive, right?
• 5:01
  Or mustard or whatever. But as far as I'm thinking like maybe mayapple,
• 5:07
  there's a couple of them that you do have to know what you're doing when you're
• 5:09
  harvesting wildflowers, for sure, that's where the ID part is very important.
• 5:14
  But we want to make sure that we're leaving enough for things to spread in a
• 5:18
  very natural way. We want to leave some for the critters, the environment.
• 5:22
  So there's a lot that goes in there. So if you're going to go out and harvest
• 5:25
  anything other than wild violets or dandelions, I think in this case,
• 5:30
  just be really respectful.
• 5:31
  And a good rule of thumb, I like to say, is never take more than a third, a quarter would be best.
• 5:37
  So if you've got four plants there, maybe you take and harvest from one and
• 5:41
  you're leaving that, you know, one to go to seed, hopefully one or two for the
• 5:45
  critters and one, you know, it could die.
• 5:47
  You don't know. So you're just making sure there's enough to go around.
• 5:49
  But yes, please go harvest all the wild dandelions if you know where they came
• 5:54
  from and wild violets that you can find.
• 5:57
  Well, exactly. And we do need to think about, especially dandelion,
• 6:01
  that is something that we definitely can eat.
• 6:03
  But we do need to know that it hasn't been treated before we eat it right don't
• 6:08
  eat them right off the roadside too like that's you know it's a big one you
• 6:12
  don't really think about it sometimes but,
• 6:14
  salts you know that go down all the oils all the chemicals that spill on the
• 6:18
  road so don't harvest from roadsides would be my number one thing and then yeah
• 6:22
  if it's your yard and you know
• 6:24
  nothing's happened nothing's been sprayed you know a dog hasn't just peed on
• 6:28
  it also if we You just want to talk about, you know,
• 6:31
  maybe you're not worried about spraying, but also have you, does your neighbor have dogs?
• 6:37
  So it could be something in case. But yeah, just you really want to be careful
• 6:40
  to make sure that you're not coming in contact with a pesticide that was not
• 6:44
  meant for food production.
• 6:47
  And even so, we still want to follow all of the food safety rules that we normally
• 6:52
  use when preparing produce for consumption.
• 6:55
  So you're going to want to wash it.
• 6:57
  And once again, under cool running water is best.
• 7:02
  We don't recommend that you use soap with produce, but still use your cool running water.
• 7:09
  And think about where it's been before you put it in your mouth.
• 7:14
  Yeah. And even a garden center is a good thing.
• 7:17
  So you can go buy pansies. It's the time of year where you can go buy a bunch
• 7:21
  of Johnny Jump Ups, but you don't necessarily know how they have treated those.
• 7:26
  Maybe they just treated them for an aphid problem or something along those lines.
• 7:30
  And those chemicals are not meant for human consumption.
• 7:33
  And so unless they're labeled edible flowers, do not expect that you can eat
• 7:38
  them ever, I would say, to be safe.
• 7:40
  So if you're interested in that, start them from seed or buy ones from people
• 7:45
  you know haven't been sprayed or something like that. I think that's an excellent point.
• 7:50
  We do think, you know, we're rowing it.
• 7:53
  It should be just fine, but what's happened to it before we get it,
• 7:56
  we really need to be considered.
• 7:57
  And some of those things, some of them are just like a topical thing and they
• 8:01
  get washed off with some water or they grow out of it, but there are certain
• 8:05
  systemic chemicals that stay in the plants.
• 8:08
  It's in the soil to stay, to keep that plant looking healthy.
• 8:11
  And so, you know, even if you've had that plant for six months,
• 8:15
  that doesn't necessarily mean it's grown out of any thing that's been put on it.
• 8:20
  So I just like to caution people on that, but it's a good excuse.
• 8:24
  Pansies are a great example of things that are very easy to start from seed,
• 8:27
  actually. So if you can start basil, you can start pansies.
• 8:32
  And so let's talk about perennials. So are there perennial flowers that are edible.
• 8:37
  So if they've gone through one growing season and then they come up again, then are you.
• 8:43
  Yes, I would say if you buy it this year and you're like, I don't know what's
• 8:47
  been done to it, I'm going to wait.
• 8:48
  If you get through a year, I have never heard of any type of pesticide that lingers for a year.
• 8:53
  So you'd be good there. So I'd say, I mean, even something like Crab Apple trees,
• 8:57
  Crab Apple Redbuds, if we talk about trees, are all great ones.
• 9:01
  Another one is agastache, which is anise hyssop is the common name for that.
• 9:06
  And that's a really great one. monarda is one of our natives.
• 9:09
  There's a lot of different varieties of that. That's called bee balm is the
• 9:13
  common name a lot of people are familiar with.
• 9:15
  And then calendula is another good spring one that people know a lot about that is edible.
• 9:21
  A lot of people even make salves and tinctures out of it because it's got some medicinal property.
• 9:26
  So there are quite a few perennials, both trees and herbaceous ones that can be edible.
• 9:33
  And like I said, that really great table that NC State has, kind of has a really
• 9:37
  great list of some of those things.
• 9:39
  And we'll definitely link that in the show notes.
• 9:42
  This has been a fun conversation. I've enjoyed it, Alexis, and I do love my
• 9:46
  flowers, but I think finding ones that I can eat a little bit more than just
• 9:51
  those fried squash blossoms will be lots of fun too.
• 9:55
  Coloring your salad, man, you know, make it fun. Especially if you have kids
• 9:58
  and be like, eat the purple flowers. That's, you know, it keeps it fresh.
• 10:02
  Oh, yes, definitely. And so attractive to the eye.
• 10:05
  And it's just pretty to look at, too, as well. There's some anthocyanins in there, right?
• 10:11
  That's right. They're also healthy. So where's the downside,
• 10:14
  is my opinion? Yeah, there really is none, right?
• 10:17
  Maybe if we, you know, sugar them and put them on our cupcakes.
• 10:21
  Well, you know, that's the FCS in you talking, right? Everything in moderation.
• 10:28
  This has been so much fun. Thank you so much for joining us today.
• 10:32
  And I think we might have to have another conversation some other time about
• 10:36
  more things that we can eat from the landscape, right? Let's talk plants anytime, anywhere.
• 10:42
  If you're just tuning in, you're listening to Talking FACS and we're available
• 10:46
  wherever you get your podcast.
• 10:49
  Thank you for listening to Talking FACS. We deliver programs focusing on nutrition,
• 10:55
  health, resource management, family development, and civic engagement.
• 10:59
  If you enjoyed today's podcast, have a question or a show topic idea,
• 11:03
  leave a like and a comment on Facebook at UKFCSEXT or send us an email at UKFCSEXT@UKY.edu.
• 11:16
  Visit us online at fcs.uky.edu to learn more about the University of Kentucky
• 11:22
  Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Program or contact your local extension
• 11:27
  agent for Family and Consumer Sciences.
• 11:30
  We build strong families. We build Kentucky. It starts with us.
• 11:36
  Music.