Edible and Tasty Arugula Flowers

arugulaflowers

Our winter vegetable garden is just about finished. This week I’m going to tear out most of it and plant tomatoes and a few other summer veggies.

I may keep some of the arugula that has gone to flower a little longer. Why?

  • arugula flower taste great in salads
  • bees love them
  • arugula self seeds readily

The flowers, which taste like the leaves, are a reminder of my favorite time of year: arugula season. Each year I curse myself for not planting more arugula.

Do you have a favorite edible flower?

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13 Comments

  1. I let the arugula in a flower border go to seed last year and its offspring is flowering now. Not only is it pretty but the chickens enjoy munching on leaves and flowers when I let them out there. I also like nasturtium flowers and borage flowers, which look so pretty in salads. The chickens like the borage, too.

  2. I also have tons of arugula flowers that self seed every year. But I have a question: The volunteer arugula usually goes straight from tiny (2″ leaves) to bolting and flowering, completely skipping the “harvest some for salad” phase. Does this happen to you too? What am I doing wrong?

    I do have an abundance of flowers though, maybe we should just be eating arugula flower salad at our house . . .

    • Hmmm. It’s hard to say. Generally speaking, plants bolt early when they’re under stress. They know they’re in trouble, so the genetic imperative to produce seed kicks in, overriding all else. They’ll do this if their roots are crowded (like if they’re left in a little pot), during heat-waves, or when they’re not getting enough water.

      Or, it may also be that the naturalized arugula you have is just very short lived and/or small leaved. You may want to let it just do its flower thing and plant new seed for salad greens.

  3. I don’t care much for eating most of the flowers, but my husband is a big fan of the nasturtiums and borage. This year I think his favorite is rosemary flowers. Or maybe pineapple sage flowers. It’s hard to tell. 🙂

  4. i let some of my radishes continue on to go wild because i think they are so pretty…and i tried some of the flowers and i do enjoy eating them as well as looking at them.
    although, FYI, mine spread rapidly and took over a lot of space…i dont mind, just noting…

  5. I love the sour, citrus-y taste of geranium flowers. Delicious. And nasturtiums, of course; I love the little sweet sip of nectar in every flower!

  6. Just stumbled across your blog 🙂
    I garden at the Sepulveda Community Garden and another Gardener there turned me on to Persian Garden Cress and the leaves of yellow beets. Delicious!

  7. I like to leave all of my unharvested “bolted” winter veggies in the ground to flower and seed. The bees and other pollinators love the flowers and the wild birds love the seeds, later I just wack them down and turn them in lots of seed comes up randomly next season (good and bad sometimes). I do have extra plots so I can leave each seasons planting area fallow for a season or two………….

  8. Nasturtiums are always one of my go-to edible flowers, though my favorite (since it was my first) will probably be Borage. It grows weed-like in the PNW, and often springs up in my yard unbidden, begging to be eaten. The flowers taste like fresh cucumbers, perfect for salads or in fizzy ginger brew.

  9. All the talk of borage flowers… the leaves are edible too but you want to pick them when they’re young. I followed the idea from My Calabria one year and made a stuffed pizza with the borage leaves which was really good.

  10. I first had Arugula in Ireland several years ago. Of course it was called rocket there. I came and started finding sources to have it available in my kitchen. Last year I added it to my garden! I love the smell almost as much as the flavor

  11. Pingback: Arugula Flowers - EyeSlobber photo by Kate Adamick

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