Hundreds of years ago, sunflower flowers were cooked like artichokes and served to the very rich. Today, our local farmer’s market has started selling organic sunflowers so it’s time to check out some of the pretty desserts. If you don’t happen to live somewhere that has a ready supply of edible flowers, check out dried sunflower petals which are a beautiful golden lion color. Especially, German. You can go to the loose tea section to buy bulk dried edible flowers. Amazon, Target, Wal-mart, your local asian grocery store…the list is endless and often under $20 so it can be a fun experiment in healthy fancy living. You can sprinkle sunflower petals on lots of things for a nutty pop of color. Lavender. Rose petals. They look lovely on event cakes and small pastries. Being in the South, feel like someone is going to use it on custom Thanksgiving pies.
It’s a nice break this week from gardening and putting more mulch on the kitchen garden to add more herbs and square it up for the sprinkler system. Last year we did a fancy wave pattern only to realize modern sprinklers water in a square, so this year fixing it. Live and learn. What fun things are you learning to cook right now?