Edible Flowers

My first taste of a flower was on a holiday to Italy a few years ago.   It was a sensational summer - a group of us their mid 20s - we would party in Camden until the sun came up!  One of the girls always visited her family in Italy for the month of August - myself and another friend were invited along for two weeks.

As well as the amazing countryside in the hills above Rome, the sun bronzed Italian men!! the food was amazing - so fresh & simple.  Her mother was a fantastic cook taking many of the fresh ingredients from her own garden.  My favourite dish was shallow fried courgette flowers.  They were so delicate to look at and eat.

(Picture of courgette flower from BBC Food).

Now flowers have made their way into salads on the shelves of some of the UK supermarkets - they certainly look really pretty - violas and nasturtiums nested amongst crisp leaves.

(Nasturtiums on attractively composed salad (Photo by Sancho Papa - CC-BY)

I have used flowers or essence of flower in my cooking before - chive flowers, rose petals, rose essence in a rhubarb crumble.  And I just adore violet and rose cream chocolates!