Edible flowers are both beautiful and functional. So many flowers are edible, from nasturtiums, pansies, and violets, to perennial herbs like rosemary, sage and chive. The effort you make to plant and cultivate them will reward you both in the garden and on the plate.
The burst of color from edible flowers to garnish a dish is common, especially in the Italian alpine regions of Friuli and Alto Adige. The pop of color you get from violets or nasturtiums sprinkled in a salad or served on a cheese board is a joyful alpine expression! A little further south, acacia and elder flowers are a springtime treat in the regions of Veneto and Lombardia. The acacia (aka black locust) trees are in bloom now in Italy and the US and line the roadways with their full white boughs. And everyone who has been to Italy knows that fried zucchini flowers are a summer staple. Plant zucchini now for flowers all summer long.
We have really been enjoying the chive flowers this spring, sprinkled on soup or in salads. The slight oniony bite gives an unexpected lift to so many dishes. Plant chives now and you will have flowers next spring. Rosemary flowers are delicious sprinkled on sautéed mushrooms that top a grilled steak. Sage flowers are wonderful fried and served as aperitivo with a cold glass of prosecco or white wine.
sage flowers in springflowering rosemarythyme blossoms
The blossoms of herbs carry the perfume and flavor of the herb, but with more subtlety. Sprinkle the flowers on anything you would normally flavor the dish with, just before serving. Be sure to only eat flowers that have not been treated with chemicals though. Buon Appetito!
If you’re lucky enough to have a perennial sage plant in your garden, you know that in the spring when it starts growing again, the leaves it puts out are huge! Perfect for dipping in a light batter and frying!
Super simple, the batter is unmeasured and a quick and easy combo of flour, salt and either white wine or soda water. Heat peanut oil in a skillet and dip each leaf in the hot oil, turning as they get golden brown on one side. If you want to get fancy, you can spread a little anchovy paste (the tube you brought back from Italy last time. What? You didn’t?? Well come with us and we’ll show you where to pick one up!) and sandwich two sage leaves together with it, dipping and frying.
This is a perfect snack while you’re sipping your negroni or spritz, dreaming of Italy! Buon appetito!
Last September, we took a lovely group of people on a food and wine tour of Naples and Campania, one of my favorite regions. It might be because my grandmother came from a small town, Montella, in the mountains to the east of Naples and so the food and language feel familiar to me. But it’s more likely that the fresh seafood, mozzarella, easy-drinking wines, fried food and local pastry like baba and sfogliatelle have won my heart. Not to mention my stomach.
I have made some wonderful friends down there. They are open and fun and love a lively discussion about food. One of the highlights of our trip is always a cooking class with my friend Concetta where we learn the myriad ways of making parmigiana di melanzane – eggplant parmigiana.
A word about the name: while it sounds like a referral to the parmigiano cheese that is put in the dish, many incorrectly assume that it’s a dish originating in the city of Parma, in the northern region of Emilia Romagna. Actually,the origins of parmigiana are neither related to the city of Parma nor to the fact that you might use Parmigiano Reggiano cheese as an ingredient. As my good friend and master chef Odette Fada points out:
“The confusion has been generated by the name. Parmigiana in this context, doesn’t come from Parma or Parmigiano, it comes from the Sicilian language: palmigiana or palmisciana. Sicily was the region where the eggplant first arrived in Italy and from there spread to the entire Peninsula. Parmigiana most likely was born in Sicily, where palmigiana or palmisciana mean “shutters”: “the louvered panes of shutters or palm-thatched or tile roofs that the layered eggplant slices are meant to resemble”. Sicilians have a peculiar way of pronouncing the “r”, which can be confused with “l” and vice versa. And the “chee”
sound frequently becomes a “gee” in southern Italy. For this reason the palmisciana became parmigiana in Italian. This hypothesis is shared by the majority of food writers, either Italian as Eugenio Medagliani or not, as the American Mary Taylor Simeti.”
Eggplant is a summer vegetable and is most commonly used in southern Italy during the hot summer months, almost replacing meat in Campania. There are several different kinds grown, and I’ve been astounded at the variety found in the markets and grocers during august and september, but it seems the favorite in Campania is the long, slender dark purple kind that have few seeds. These are the best to cook with if you can find them.
There is nothing an Italian likes discussing more than food and how to make it, and the proper way to make parmigiana di melanzane, like any good food discussion in Italy, frequently becomes so heated you expect at any moment it will come to blows, dissolving into a real food fight! The biggest bone of contention is whether the eggplant should be dipped in egg and bread crumb, or just fried straight, and family’s split down the middle and take sides over the issue!
Salting is also apparently an option. Some do, some don’t. The point of salting the eggplant is this: an eggplant is made up of tiny cells or chambers, like a sponge. When you salt it, the chambers collapse, releasing water; thus the chambers are prevented from filling again with oil when frying. Some cooks in Campania say that if you get the long, skinny and firm variety, it’s not necessary to salt it. Just slice them thin and proceed with the frying stage. If you are using the big, spongy eggplants, you’ll want to slice them and then salt them well. Put them in a colander in the sink with a heavy weight on top for at least 5 hours if not overnight. Once they’ve given up their water, rinse the salt off well and dry them on paper towels. Then you can continue with frying.
A third option is to blanch the slices in salted water. While this may be a healthier alternative, boiling anything is never as delicious as frying it. End of discussion.
Everyone does agree that the only five ingredients are: eggplant slices, a simple red sauce, mozzarella, parmigiano or grana padano, and basil leaves.
Concetta likes the simple method: slice the eggplant and then fry it immediately. Her mother in law insists that the eggplant should be dipped in egg and flour before frying, and Concetta’s husband agrees. Luckily for us, Concetta is also a scientist and the proposition that we make both kinds and taste for ourselves which we was best was met with enthusiasm on her part.
Once the two parmigianas were made and baked, we sat down to eat. With slices of each in front of us, we tasted and discussed which we liked best. The lighter of the two was the one without all the egg and flour and was voted the best; we all raised a toast to the cooks and to the lesson and continued on with our lunch.
After a little while, I turned from my students to listen to the discussion my Italian friends were having at the other end of the table. They were still talking about the eggplant parmigiana and which method was best. Food discussions in Italy have no beginnings and no ends; they’re continuations, just like life.
To make the red sauce, heat good quality olive oil in a pot and add tomato sauce and salt. Allow it to simmer 30 minutes.
Heat the peanut oil to 375 degrees. Either fry the eggplant straight out, or dip each slice into the beaten eggs and then dredge in flour and fry each slice until golden brown. Drain on paper towels. Prepare a large baking dish with a drizzle of olive oil and a light coating of tomato sauce. Place a layer of fried eggplant in the pan, pressing down firmly. Add a light coat of tomato sauce, some whole basil leaves and a layer of mozzarella and a sprinkle of Parmigiano. After each layer, press the mass down tightly. Continue to layer in this way, making sure that you consistently press the eggplant slices firmly into the pan. In this way, once it’s baked you will be able to slice it and it will maintain its shape.
All the members of the squash family – zucchini, squash, pumpkin – put out an edible flower, which in the summer in Italy is easy to find and not expensive to purchase. The zucchini flower is the hardiest and largest, making it ideal for stuffing, while squash and pumpkin blossoms tend to be more delicate and small.
The best time to pick the flowers is in the morning when they’re open. The flowers you want are the males on a long stem; keep a couple inches of the stem, it’s edible and is nice and crunchy when fried. Be sure to leave one male flower per plant to ensure continued pollination of the female flower.
The female flower will have a small zucchini attached to it.
Shake off any bugs or bees, remove the spikes at the base of the flower, and remove the stamen. The flowers will close up and slightly shrink after an hour or two and if you wait to remove the stamen you’ll end up having to rip through the flower to get inside. Be careful not to crush the flowers – I always carry a basket rather than a bag.
The flowers fried on their own are traditional and really delicious, but If you want to stuff them, do it immediately when you get home. Once the flower has closed up it will be difficult to stuff them without ripping the blossom. Just keep the stuffing simple so as not to overwhelm the delicate flavor of the flowers. Instead of stuffing the flowers, my grandmother always put a sprinkling of Parmigiano or Pecorino Romano cheese on top after they were fried!
This is a true summer treat and it’s not too late to find a farmer or a zucchini field to forage!
Fried Zucchini Flowers Zucchini flowers can be stuffed with sage and chopped fresh pecorino for a delightful Tuscan flavour. A more southern Italian taste is mozzarella and a piece of anchovy. If you don’t wish to stuff them, just dip them in the batter and fry. Zucchini flowers, cleaned 2-3 per person Batter for frying (see recipe) Peanut oil for frying Clean the zucchini flowers by removing the spikes on the outside at the bottom of the flower and the stamen inside. It’s best done when the flowers are open in the morning, but if they are already closed when you get them, just be careful not to rip the flower too much. For sage and pecorino, mince 2 tbsp pecorino and 3 sage leaves together in a small bowl and stuff the flowers with about a teaspoon of the mixture. For mozzarella and anchovy, simply put a small piece of anchovy on a long wedge of mozzarella and insert it in the flower.
Batter for Frying 2 cups AP flour 2-3 cups white wine 1 teas sea salt Put flour and salt in a bowl, with a whisk begin adding the wine, whisking vigorously to break up any lumps, until the mixture is the consistency of a thin pancake batter. Allow to sit for a few minutes. Line a baking dish with paper towels.
Heat the oil on a high heat until a drop of batter fries and browns quickly. Dip each flower in the batter and drop in the hot oil. Using tongs, turn the flowers when they’re golden brown on one side. If they get too brown too quickly, reduce the heat. If they take a long time to brown, leave the pan empty while the oil comes back up to temperature (350′).
A generous sprinkling of grated Parmigiano is delicious. Serve with a dry cold white or rose’ wine!
Edible flowers are both beautiful and functional. So many flowers are edible, from nasturtiums, pansies, and violets, to perennial herbs like rosemary, sage and chive. The effort you make to plant and cultivate them will reward you both in the garden and on the plate.
