Wouldn’t it be lovely to be able to go out and cut fresh flowers for your own arrangements, attract butterflies and bees to your garden and have some beautiful, edible flowers to add to your dishes? This is all possible, with the right plants and a cutting garden. Cosmos, zinnias, gladioli, sweet peas, sunflowers are all ideal plants to assemble in a bouquet, and there are others you can use in the kitchen to make your own flower blossom vinegar.
Edible flowers make flavourful and beautiful vinegar you can make at home. Nasturtiums, roses , bee balm and calendula are great additions well as some popular herbs including chives, lavender, sage, dill, basil and thyme.
Some tips to making flower blossom vinegar:
- Harvest the flowers in the morning when the flavour is the strongest
- Be sure the plants have not been sprayed with any chemicals
- Wash and completely dry the blossoms
Vinegar selection is important- distilled vinegar works best for flavoured
herbs and flowers - Wine or cider vinegar are recommended for stronger flavoured herbs.
Sterilize the jars and lids - Mason jars work well for the infusion and if you like, you can pour the vinegar into pretty bottles later
You can watch our Plant to Plate video where Elspeth and I chat about growing a cutting garden, edible flowers and more….
Plant to Plate- Planting a Cutting Garden
Plant to Plate- With Elspeth from Wile's Lake Farm Market discussing planting a cutting garden for bouquets, edible flowers, butterflies and bees #sponsored
Posted by Simple Local Life on Tuesday, June 5, 2018
- 2 cups of vinegar
- ½ cup flower petals or flower heads
- Place the petals in sterilized jars and pour the vinegar over them
- Let the vinegar steep for 1 week in a dark place shaking the jar once a day
- After 1 week, strain the mixture through a fine mesh strainer or coffee filter and discard the
- flowers
- Sterilize a decorative jar and add some washed and thoroughly dried
- flowers to the bottle if desired and add the strained vinegar
- Cover and keep in the fridge
- Use within 3 months
Do you have a cutting garden at home or plant flowers for specific purposes? Have you ever made your own flower or herb infused vinegar? Leave a comment and let us know!
*Plant to Plate is sponsored by Wile’s Lake Farm Market located in Wileville, Nova Scotia. Wile’s Lake Farm Market have rhubarb plants available now at the market and fresh rhubarb when available . Their knowledgeable staff is always available to answer any questions you may have.
