More Edible Flowers

I have gotten a great response from readers about edible flowers, so here are some more:
Violets or Pansies-use the whole flower.  It has a wintergreen flavor.  Use as a garnish and in salads, desserts, soups, sauces, omelets, fritters, custards and cakes.  Add a handful of purple or white violets to salads, garnish grilled meats with fresh pansies or top a cake with pretty violas.
Culinary Sage-the flavor of the flowers is more subtle than the leaves.  Use in salads, soups, chicken and fish dishes.
Marigolds-all varieties have edible blooms, but the best flavors are those with small blooms such as Lemon Gem and Tangerine Gem.  The flavor is a combination of citrus and spice.  Use only the petals, as the base of the bloom can be very bitter.  Use them in salads or with eggs and soups.
Day Lily-Pick individual flowers to use in salads orgarnishes or try stuffing the blooms with soft cheese for an appetizer.

More edible flowers to come in upcoming blogs.

And once again we have another collectible book from my Amazon storefront, "One of a Kind Cookbooks".  I really am trying to find inexpensive books, but some of these recipes in the older ones are just so enticing.  "Rumford Complete Cookbook" published in 1947, by Lily Hartworth Wallace for Rumford Baking Powder-selling for $79.99
The recipes I chose are "corn fritters" and "cheese souffle`".  Corn Fritters was a childhood favorite of mine.  Whenever my mother had leftover corn from dinner, she would make up the corn fritters on Sunday morning, served with pancake syrup on top.  And I am including a recipe for Cheese Souffle, because everyone things they are so hard to make and they're not.  A little extra time, but definetly not hard.
Corn Fritters
3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. Rumford baking powder (or any baking powder)
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups canned corn (not creamed)

Sift together flour, salt, pepper and baking powder.  Add beaten eggs and corn and if necessary, a little milk.  Drop by spoonfuls onto a hot, well-greased griddle or frying pan and cook golden brown on both sides.  Serve with pancake syrup (no butter is necessary).  Serves 6

Cheese Souffle`
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp flour
1 cup milk
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
salt and pepper
3 eggs

Blend butter and flour smoothly in saucepan.  Add milk, a little at a time and stir until boiling.  Cook three minutes, add grated cheese, salt and pepper and set aside to cool.  Beat egg yolks and whites separately, add yolks to mixture in saucepan, blend throughly; fold in the stiffly beaten whites.  Turn into a deep, well-greased dish and bake in a moderate oven 350F about 25 minutes.  Serve immediately.  Serves 4

See that wasn't so hard, was it?

News on the edible flower front.  My friend Gail Aleksander, works for a greenhouse in Boise, ID and forwarded more information http://homecooking.about.com/library/weekly/blflowers.htm


Happy Cooking!