HARVESTING FLOWERS

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Flowers reach perfection and contain the highest proportion of active ingredients as they first open fully so this is the ideal time to pick them. Choose unblemished flowers of good shape as distorted flowers can indicate damage from pests, chemical sprays or a virus. They are best collected at midday in dry weather and it is easiest to pick the whole flowering stem and separate the flowers later indoors, free from wind. If you pick flower-heads, try to avoid touching the petals. Keep them loose in open containers as they bruise easily and soon begin to sweat. Cut flowering stems of lavender and thyme just as the flowers open.

When picking for culinary use, check for insects and dirt and find out if the area has been sprayed with chemicals. Look inside the tube of bergamot flowers as it is an ideal home for small creepy-crawlies. Avoid flowers which will need washing as this will spoil the texture. Very few petals are poisonous; even the daffodil, whose bulb has killed people when mistakenly cooked an onion, has an edible flower. But of the poisonous plants it is safest to assume that the poisonous principals are also in the flowers so do not eat the following.