Edible Flowers: Marigold - Marigolds

Edible Flowers: Marigold

Edible Flowers: Marigold
Kneadle Work
Posted by cehwiedel on July 19, 2008
Filed under:Commentary, Food & Nutrition

I am designing a new photo series to submit to PhotoShelter: botanicals for homeopathic medicine.

The first homeopathic botanical to catch my eye was marigolds (Calendula officinalis).

Homeopathic medicine asserts beneficial properties for marigolds. Its styptic property slows bleeding of open wounds. Its bacteriostatic property inhibits the growth of bacteria and thus promotes the healing of wounds. It may also promote the disappearance of callouses.

But here at Kneadle Work, we’re more interested in whether its edible, and how.

According to the Edible Flowers page at What’s Cooking America, marigolds are indeed edible:

Flavors range from spicy to bitter, tangy to peppery. Their sharp taste resembles saffron (also known as Poor Man’s Saffron). Has pretty petals in golden-orange hues. Sprinkle them on soups, pasta or rice dishes, herb butters, and salads. Petals add a yellow tint to soups, spreads, and scrambled eggs.

Other sources caution that if you’re using it as a cooking ingredient you should stick to Calendula officinalis, Tegetes lucida (Mexican mint marigold) or Tagetes patula (French marigold) rather than other varieties of marigolds.

Jim Long, an herbal and cookbook author, offers a recipe for stuffed tomatoes with marigold petals that calls for French marigolds.

Epicurious currently lists 27 recipes featuring Mexican mint marigold. The list includes Georgian Pork Stew that suggests turmeric as an alternative to marigold.

Felder Rushing, author of Tough Plants for California Gardens: Low Care, No Care, Tried and True Winners (Tough Plants), says that Mexican Mint marigold “makes a fine tarragon substitute” and that its leaves “smell strongly of licorice when crushed.”

All this provides a lot of possibilities for studio photographic compositions.