Sunday 28 July 2013

The edible bouquet

I see plenty of beautiful flowers in the florist’s window. Supermarkets now stock an abundance of bouquets, and even petrol stations stock enough blooms to cover an emergency hostess gift. But my favourite posy to give is an edible one, picked straight from my herb garden.
 

All you see here is can be eaten! I love picking an array of pretty blooms and leaves and arranging them in a wildflower-style bunch tied with twine.

These posies make me happy, even happier when the recipient discovers that they can snip various leaves and blooms throughout the week to flavour dinners!
The variety of herbs varies week to week – the little purple orbs of chive flowers always look pretty (be careful, though, or the bouquet will smell entirely of onion!) but they died out last week. The soft green sage leaves haven’t grown high enough yet. So what culinary treats are in this particular bouquet? Let’s see...
Start with one perfect rose...

 
Add some more floral colour with bronze fennel flower, lavender and marsh mallow

 
 
The liquid resulting from boiling the marsh mallow plant can be used like egg whites.
Then we need some background greenery. The ferny fronds of sweet cicely and the bold bay leaf work well...
 
 
Need some architectural interest - some arching, frothy bronze fennel leaves


And the dainty white-dotted stems of oregano and savoury

Just caught the oregano flowers before they completely fade
The savoury stems curve up nicely...
I usually give a posy to a fellow foodie friend. To make the offering even more of a ‘proper’ gift, add a little recipe card featuring one or more of the plants in the herbal bouquet – a soup, a salad dressing, even sugared rose petals for cake decorating...
Happy crafting and bon appétit!

Chrissie x

13 comments:

  1. Loved your herbal posy, and this lovely post too. Such a sweet idea as a gift, especially for friends who love to cook.
    Helen x

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  2. What a pretty and tasty looking posy. I'm always interested to know what we can eat from the garden. I think it stems from many years ago when I enjoyed a lunch with my mum at her favourite restaurant called the pansy in knysna, South Africa. The lady who ran the shop decorated all her food with the most beautiful displays of edible flowers, herbs and plants. They were each a work of art and I felt totally inspired by this very creative woman. I was only young but years down the line we kept going back, it became a little ritual for mum and me and we were always so excited to see what she was going to come up with next. I personally think there is nothing like a posy from the garden mixed in with some edible plants and also love doing this whenever I see friends. I thoroughly enjoyed this post. Warm wishes for a lovely Sunday and also hope that you are enjoying the hols so far I know mine are loving it. Xoxo

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    1. How I wish I could visit that restaurant, Hannapat! Sounds just delicious, I wish we had more like that here...but til I open my own cafe (ha!), I'll just sprinkle flower petals on the girls' dinners! Thanks for sharing such a lovely memory, cxxx

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  3. Beautiful flowers! I've returned to a herb patch full of edible flowers....not munched any yet though! :) x

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  4. So pretty. What a great idea and thanks for the suggestions of plants.

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  5. Pretty bunch of herbs. My mind is racing with recipes. Thanks for commenting on my tunic. I traced another pattern today but used a highlighter pen before I put the paper over the top. Why didn't I think of that before!! Jo x

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  6. Beautiful arrangement Chrissie. I love your choice of flowers they look great together x

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  7. What a beautiful thing to do Chrissie, and a beautiful gift to receive! I really enjoyed your lovely post - you explained it all so well!
    Have a fantastic healthy herby week!
    What are you making in the background? Looking forward to seeing your next beautiful creation!
    Joy xo

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  8. Stunning and such a clever gift idea xx

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  9. What a wonderful gift idea! I think a bouquet picked from the garden - edible or otherwise - it so much prettier than anything from the shops. And it looks so nice tied with the twine. Utterly gorgeous. x

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  10. Beautiful posy - I don't think I could bear to eat any of it though as it's so pretty! Such a clever idea XX

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  11. What a lovely idea. I love my herbs, rosemary, basil, parley and sage are my particular favourites. Not forgetting lavender, the best smell ever.
    S xx

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