What a great way to take your dish to a new level.  Edible flowers are now recognised as a fantastic form of garnish from salads, desserts, main course and drinks. 

Their exciting shapes, vibrant colours and delicately subtle flavours make them the perfect match to your plate.

You can use the petals by themselves or the whole flower.  But, keep in mind while a flower technically might be classified as edible it is no guarantee that it will taste good.  Most flowers can be eaten whole but some have better elements like the stem or stamen.  Snap dragons, for example are a fascinatingly beautiful flower but their taste resembles ear wax.

Edible flowers are generally delicate and usually smaller in size.  Once picked or purchased they need to remain refrigerated and covered or sealed in a container.  Their shelf life varies from one or two days to a week.

Why not try tossing some yellow or red nasturtium flowers throughout your side salad, sprinkling dianthus petals over your pork belly and apple slaw or placing a few pansies on the side of a warm triple chocolate brownie next time. 

Here is a few edible flowers to think about – snap dragon, lavender, nasturtium, dianthus, pansies, violas, marigold, borage blossom, basil blossom, mint blossom, zucchini flowers, chevill and squash blossom.