This sunflower was picked by mistake at the allotment yesterday. I'm no friend of big and bold flowers, so I'm surprised how well it fits into our kitchen - which is decorated in turqoise and mild yellow tones. And while the flowers lights up our kitchen table I can study its finer details fit for angel bookmarks.
Sunflower is said to be edible, and who am I to refuse an experiment? I picked a yellow leaf and put into my mouth - with a considerabel amount of suspicion. Mom taught me that flowers are poisonous, and the voice of your inner mom is never silent. In addition to that the leaf tasted like perfume, that oldfashion kind with lily of the valley and lilac base, and left a bitter aftertaste. I have to admit I wondered if I would be sick and spent the rest of the evening watching over my stomach. But, I survived!
If I would use sunflower in my cooking I would go for Middle East inspired food, where rosewater is used regularly and where that hint of perfume is desirable. Hm, perhaps it's already used? The climate is right for the plant down there, and there's a good will to use plants creativly.
The small bowl contains another experiment. I picked the tomatoes from my previous plants before I tore them all down. By then they where minute, and I wanted to see if they could ripe eventhough they where dark green. They've taken a few weeks to blush, and they collected some dust bunnies meanwhile. Like most tomatoes made for commersial cultivation their skinns is pretty thick, and it'll be interesting to see if there's something more inside when I try them out for lunch today. I'll post some further report tomorrow.
2 comments:
You are suppose to eat the sunflower seeds not the flowers. According to the squirrels who ate my flowers last year the larger varieties have the best tasting seeds.
If you want to eat actual flowers grow pansies and nasturtiums. They are edible and easy to grow. You eat them raw in salads.
The flowers are listed as edible in _the_ swedish garden handbook, so I couldn't resist trying. Unfortunately I picked a sunflower variety with pretty small seeds, so I think I'll donate most of the mature flowers to my son's daycare for them to feed the birds. Unless I find a way to extract sunflower oil from the seeds.
I do grow both nasturtium and pansies. Nasturtium doesn't bloom indoors (unless you wait half a year - I haven't figured out why), so I make do with the ordinary leaves. The 'Alaska' variety is my favourite, tastes good and looks good even without flowers.
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