Friday

Edible Flowers

Edible Flowers, flower blossoms or buds that can be eaten. Edible flowers are used in a variety of dishes to add flavors ranging from sweet and floral to pungent and spicy. Flowers are typically floated on soups or sprinkled on salads for color and flavor. When stuffed with spiced ricotta or cottage cheese they make a flavorful and unusual side dish. Stir-fried or deep-fried flowers are used for tasty hors d’oeuvres. Flowers often are candied or crystallized—brushed with egg white and dusted with granulated sugar and then air dried—to make sweets or to decorate desserts. Edible flowers are also used to enhance beverages, jams and jellies, butters, vinegars, and water. Most edible flowers are used in small amounts and, because they are used lightly, contribute little to a dish’s nutritional value.

Sample of edible flowers
A variety of flower blossoms are used to enhance cuisines. Calendula, also called pot marigold, is a daisy-like flower with yellow petals that impart a tangy flavor to tea, butters, soups, egg dishes, and rice. Since Roman times, calendula has been used as an affordable substitute for saffron, an expensive spice made from crocus flowers.

Day Lily, with its large, trumpet-shaped petals in a wide range of colors, is chopped and added to salads and soups. The dried buds, called golden needles, are mentioned in early Chinese writing and are still used in Asian dishes.

The orange, white, or red flowers of nasturtium have a peppery flavor and are used to enhance salads or sandwiches. The round, lobed leaves are also edible. Nasturtium’s use as a food has been credited to the ancient Persians and Peruvians.

Sunday

Rafflesia


Rafflesia, genus of various parasitic, stemless, leafless, and rootless plants, distinctive for their putrid odor. The plants are native to the Malay Archipelago and Indonesia, and grow on the tropical forest floor. Rafflesia do not use photosynthesis to manufacture nutrients and instead obtain food from tissues of the tropical grape vines that they live on. The large, pink, five-lobed flowers are pollinated by flies that feed on rotting animal flesh. The blossom of one species, the corpse lily, is recognized as the largest flower in the world. It grows up to 91 cm (36 in) in width, with petals 3 cm (1 in) thick and 46 cm (18 in) long, and weighs as much as 7 kg (15 lb).

Until recently, scientists were uncertain how to classify rafflesia. A study of the plant’s DNA material published in 2007 placed rafflesia in the Euphorbiaceae, the spurge family of flowering plants. The result was a surprise—members of the Euphorbiaceae, which include the rubber tree, castor beans, cassava, and poinsettias, are characterized by having very tiny flowers. More research may reveal what genes cause rafflesia flowers to grow to such gigantic size.

Scientific classification: Rafflesia make up the genus Rafflesia in the family Euphorbiaceae. The corpse lily is classified as Rafflesia arnoldii.