EDIBLE FLOWERS

What could be more beautiful than a salad made of bright, colourful flowers? Edible flowers are both good for your body and a feast for the eyes. Flowers tend to be high in vitamins such as vitamin C and A, and contain a variety of medicinal properties. Many flowers are great for your skin - giving you a summer glow - and provide antioxidant protection which reduces the visibility of age spots, wrinkles and scars.

Foraging does not need to be limited to the backcountry woods and wilderness. A large portion of our foraged food comes from the city because that is where we live. Foraging in an urban setting can be a wonderful way to get to know your neighbours and create community. Community is an essential buffer against many of the challenges we deal with in today's culture. Isolation is one of the key contributing factors to most mental illness including addiction and depression, and poses a serious health risk to human beings. As a therapist, I encourage clients to foster community in as many ways as they can. Having a strong and diverse community creates a basket that can support us in times of need. It also offers us a way of creating meaning and connection throughout the many seasons of our lives. 

In this video we wandered around the streets of Peterborough and knocked on neighbours’ doors to get permission to harvest some of their plants for this flower salad. These are some of the flowers we included in our salad:

Marshmallow (Althaea officinalis)
All mallow flowers are edible, often referred to as “the green cheeses” because the fruits resemble tiny green cheese wheels. Mallows are used as food all over the world. Marshmallow are particularly high in mucilage and emollient properties which are great for soothing, softening and healing. I was first drawn to this plant when I was pregnant and had an overwhelming feeling that mallow would be a key medicinal plant for me after my baby was born. I later learned that mallow helps to heal and sooth internal and external wounds and irritation.

My friend and herbalist Nicole Cameron brought me a lovely batch of mallow root and flower cookies and a beautiful sitz bath mixture after the birth of my daughter. I went on to use mallow root to help my teething baby’s sore mouth and dry coughs, and I used mallow flowers to soothe my irritated nerves. Ever since, I have had a strong affinity for this plant and use it in as many ways as possible. Here we used both the leaves and flowers for our salad.

Calendula (Calendula officinalis)
Calendula is well known for its medicinal properties and is used both externally and internally. It is high in antioxidants such as beta-carotene and makes a wonderful anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, antibacterial, and antiviral, among many other things. Calendula can be used externally for skin conditions such as acne and eczema, and used internally it can soothe the gastrointestinal tract in people with conditions such as colitis, Crohn's disease and both gastric and duodenal ulcers.

Pansies (Viola tricolor var. hortensis)
These sweet little flowers are a hybrid of the genus Viola. They have anti-inflammatory, diuretic, and expectorant properties and can be used for pain relief from gout, rheumatism and arthritis, can ease coughs, and have a calming, sedative effect. (A note of caution: this plant can cause vomiting when used in high amounts. Do not use in combination with prescription diuretics or asthma medication).

Nasturtium (Tropaeolum)
A fragrant and spicy flower - akin to a radish, but in flower form - nasturtiums are antibacterial, antibiotic, antifungal, antimicrobial, antiseptic, antiviral, expectorant and diuretic in medicinal action. They can help ward off colds and decrease candida albicans overgrowth in the body.

Bergamot or bee balm (Monarda)
Loved by bees, this is one of Courtney’s daughter’s favourite flowers to eat. Sweet, with a little spice, it gets its name because its flavour is reminiscent of bergamot orange (Citrus bergamia).

Roses (Rosa)
And of course roses. We love roses and use them in our food whenever and wherever we can. See our post on rose petal popsicles. Roses are cooling and calming - as the saying goes, “Roses are good for the skin and good for the soul.” There are so many species and cultivars of roses and the flavours vary from plant to plant - try a few and find your favourite (but never eat store-bought roses as they are usually sprayed with pesticides and fragrance).

In this video, we harvested a basket full of edible flowers. We picked some greens and herbs from our garden and whipped up a simple salad dressing.

Ingredients

• edible flowers (some of the flowers we used include daisy petals, evening primrose, marshmallow, calendula, pansies, nasturtium, bergamot, lavender, daylilies, queen anne's lace, thimbleberry flowers, dame's rocket, and roses)

• garden greens (we used kale, nasturtium leaves, lamb's quarters, wood sorrel and other garden "weeds")

• garden herbs (daisy leaves, plantain, queen anne’s lace, bergamot leaves, marshmallow leaves)

• dressing (olive oil, apple cider vinegar, maple syrup and sea salt)

Directions

• gather flowers and garden greens. Inspect them for dirt and bugs - you might want to give them a quick rinse.

• coarsely chop the greens and chop up the herbs a bit more finely

• mix together your dressing ingredients

• toss salad and enjoy!

STINGING NETTLE

We have been craving this plant. Everything about its deep rich green colour packed full of nutrients as food and as a medicinal ally appeals to us. Consuming this plant always makes us feel healthy, strong, and ready to face the world.

Strangely, over the last few years we have had a difficult time tracking down stinging nettle (Urtica dioica). While we have had access to wood nettle which has similar properties, we’ve only ever been able to find sparse patches of nettle, until now.

We came to the Stone Boat Farm Artist Retreat hoping to find stinging nettle on the property and had been speaking about this plant with our host Amy Nostbakken. Amy asked us about our luck finding any on our first few wanderings, which had been fruitless.
“How do you identify them?” she asked.
“Well,” we said, “Definitely the most obvious way is by the stings."
 “Ohhhhhhhhh!!" said Amy, "I know that plant! I always thought it was poison ivy. My brother and I would get stung by them all over our legs when climbing the apple trees!”

And so, we ventured over to the shady apple trees and sure enough we came across an enormous patch of stinging nettle.

While we weren’t too concerned about the population of stinging nettle, we still aimed to harvest only the tops - pinching them just above the intersection of the fine toothed slightly heart shaped leaves. This ensures that the plant will continue producing and also prevents it from going to flower. This is important if you want to harvest the leaves from the same plant throughout the season as some claim that after flowering, stinging nettle leaves contain cystoliths which could irritate the kidneys. However, this compound is destroyed after drying, so does not pose the same concern for dried tea.

Courtney harvests stinging nettle with her bare hands, making claims to the antihistamine properties of nettle stings and their ability to increase circulation and ease joint pain. Others prefer to use gloves as the hairs on the nettle stalks and leaves contain formic acid which cause quite a bit of irritation that can last for anywhere from a few minutes to several days. We don't worry too much about that, as one of the antidotes to nettle stings is the juice from nettle itself! 

We decided to see if we could transplant a few because we love the idea of having a nettle patch in our home gardens.

One of the other artists at the farm, the talented dancer Nyda, joined us in harvesting this delicious medicinal plant.

“It’s so funny because before we went up to Stone Boat I’d been reading about nettle in terms of kidney cleansing and supporting liver and skin, and I couldn't find any here in Toronto. I work in an organic grocery store part-time and checked the Big Carrot. I went all over the city to different health food stores and wasn't able to find it anywhere.  And then I came out here and there were whole fields of nettle." Nyda laughs at the overwhelming abundance of stinging nettle.

"Because I work with my body I want to feed it everything I can that is going to support it. It's mainly for the health benefits of nettle that I will keep seeking it out, and I want to plant the one that I have.”

We brought our bounty back to the farmhouse and made some delicious mineral-rich medicinal tea by pouring boiling water over the leaves. Nettle loses its stinging properties the moment it is cooked or covered with hot water.

Like most wild-crafted foods, nettle contains substantially more nutrients than many other known "superfoods" including iron and calcium (much more than spinach and kale) magnesium, silica, vitamins, phosphorus, trace minerals, and protein. It is used to treat anemia, rheumatic ailments such as arthritis and gout, and various skin conditions including acne and eczema. Nettle also has antihistamine properties and we've used it to both treat and prevent seasonal allergies. 

In an effort to consume nettle in every possible form, we fried up a bunch of the leaves with dandelion buds and flowers, and wild leeks for lunch.

We cannot begin to sing this plant’s glory enough, and this one article by no means covers its diverse uses and applications. We put some nettle aside to dry for future recipes and will continue to write about it in future posts!

DAYLILIES

A few years ago, I made the mistake of making Nadia taste a daylily flower that was past its prime. Since that experience, she has refused to try anything daylily. Finally, last week, I was able to convince her to give them another chance by cooking up some of the tasty spring tubers, which are reminiscent of fingerling potatoes.

We harvested daylily (Hemerocallis fulva) tubers along with the shoots for a side dish to accompany our meal. Daylilies are a potentially delicious and abundant food source throughout the year. Each part of the plant is edible at some point during its growing stages. Once you get to know this plant you will notice them everywhere - from gardens to roadside ditches.

Hemerocallis fulva along with its many cultivars and relatives are not related to the lily family (Lilium species, many of which are very poisonous), but have a similar flower appearance. Daylilies get their common name from the fact that each individual blossom lasts for only one day.

A note to novice foragers is to be wary of confusing daylily shoots for that of the poisonous iris. I can always tell a daylily apart by its rich light green colour (Nadia refers to it as “spring green”) and the shape of its long leaves which are folded along the midrib, as opposed to the flat sword-like leaves of the iris. Someone once described them to me as looking like two hands facing each other, about to clap. Daylilies have a cluster of tuber roots with hairy rhizomes (see photos) unlike the knobbly bulbs of irises.

The roots become mushy after the plant produces flowers. The best time to harvest daylily tubers is between late fall and early spring when the plant is putting all its energy into the roots. The young shoots in early spring are a pleasant crunchy snack - great for nibbling while you're gathering, or for adding to a salad or stir fry. Generally, daylilies propagate quite easily. I find that there are always a few renegades that try to sneak out of my garden borders which are perfect for picking.

Think of getting to know a plant in all its seasons and in a variety of settings before harvesting, and make sure you know it well - you wouldn’t trust your life in the hands of someone you just met! But if you are certain of its identification, then harvest away.

It is also a good practice to eat only a small amount when trying a new food for the first time. Daylilies have a laxative quality and have been known to give a small percent of the population an upset stomach, so sample a small portion first before making them into a main dish for your meal.

We cleaned the tubers thoroughly, removing the rope-like bits, and boiled them in water until tender but still firm. We fried up some wild leeks (see wild leek post) in butter in a skillet and added the daylily tubers, frying them for another few minutes. The fried tubers made a great starchy accompaniment to our meal and had a similar taste and texture to potatoes. Nadia promptly reformed her opinion of daylilies. The next challenge will be to get her to try the flowers!

Ingredients

• daylily tubers
• wild leeks, shallots, onions or garlic (your choice)
• butter or oil

Directions

• place daylily tubers in a pot of boiling water and cook until tender but still firm
• fry wild leeks, shallots, onions or garlic in skillet with oil or butter
• add the tubers to the skillet and fry for approximately five minutes
• salt and pepper to taste

LILAC HONEY

I wish you could smell my kitchen right now. The air is heavy and full with the intoxicating perfume of lilacs (Syringa vulgaris). There is something so romantic and dreamy about their fragrance which I look forward to every spring. This year, I wanted to try to capture their scent in some way, so that I could bottle it and consume it year-round. 

Happy to find out that the blossoms are edible, I decided to make a simple lilac-infused honey.

I harvested a bouquet of various types of lilacs and plucked the flowers from their bitter stems, filling a jar and packing it to the brim.

The honey I had on hand was a raw local wildflower honey which had crystallized. But it didn't matter, because once the honey was added to the flowers, it began to draw out the liquid through the process of osmosis, turning into a syrup. I sealed the lid tightly and allowed the flowers to steep overnight.

The next day, the contents of the jar had shrunk down to about a third and the flowers had floated up to the top. 

After straining out the flowers, what was left was a beautiful fragrant syrup, tasting distinctly floral and faintly spicy, with a little bit of bitterness softened by the sweetness of the honey.

Ingredients:

• lilac flowers, picked from stems
• local raw honey

Directions:

• fill jar with lilac flowers
• pour honey overtop
• allow to steep overnight
• once the flowers have risen to the stop, strain and preserve the syrup.