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