Culinary use of flowers dates back thousands of years in many indigenous cultures. Edible flowers are a simple way to add color, taste, and essence to a salad. According to Ayurveda, herbs and flowers not only adorn a salad but add nourishment. Through their particular ‘taste’ or energetic qualities, they have the capacity to uplift mood, soothe the nerves, enhance sleep, reduce inflammation, and balance the doshas.
Have fun growing them in your garden! Choose high quality or organic if possible. If you are collecting from another source make sure they have not been sprayed with pesticides or fertilizers. When picking, have respect and gratitude for the plant. Always leave some in place for the insects, birds, and animals, and for nature to regenerate.
TYPES OF EDIBLE FLOWERS:
- Borage is a cooling and cleansing herb, soothing the throat, chest, skin, and eyes. It enhances resilience, gives renewed buoyancy in adversity, and is useful when feeling low after illness.
- Calendula reduces inflammation, soothes the skin, eyes, and promotes tissue repair.
- Chamomile is a wonderful relaxant for the nervous and digestive systems. It also relaxes the smooth muscles throughout the body. As a remedy of the sun, chamomile soothes anger and tension.
- Lavender has a mildly pungent taste and slightly cooling influence. It is soothing and can calm an agitated mind without creating undue dullness. Lavender can balance the emotions, relieve anxiety and depression, and reduce stress.
- Nasturtium is pungent taste and aids digestion. It has high vitamin C content and is a powerful anti-microbial.
- Roses have an uplifting and restoring effect on the nervous system and for the heart.They relieve insomnia, lift depression and anxiety. The petals have a cooling effect and bring down excess heat in the body. Petals or hips strengthen the lungs and re-establish the healthy bacterial population of the intestine.
RESOURCES:
McIntyre, Anne. Flower Remedies for Healing.
Hoffmann, David. The New Holistic Herbal.
Ladd, Vasant & Frawley, David. The Yoga of Herbs.
Simon, David & Chopra, Deepak. The Chopra Center Herbal Handbook.
