Beautiful daylilies are in bloom in the Kansas City area now…Â did you know you can eat them?!
Farmer Steven brought a lesson in edible flowers along with his fresh produce this week. (Disclaimer: we’re talking about organically-grown daylilies, of course – not ones that have been sprayed with any pesticides, etc.)
There’s so much to enjoy with these perennial flowers. The tender, velvety petals of the blossoms make a nutritious, colorful addition to a salad. The buds offer protein, vitamin C and vitamin A – Steven suggests slicing them on an angle and sautéing them. Dried daylily petals are known in China as ‘golden needles’ and used as an ingredient in many recipes.
But eating daylilies is not without controversy. There are some who contend that daylilies help prevent blindness. Others warn that daylilies can be toxic to eat (or are at least easily confused with tiger lilies, which are not advisable to eat.) Steven recommends that you try just a small bit of the daylilies the first time you eat them. The flowers can have a diuretic effect to some people; “nature’s laxative,” as Steven calls it. And the daylily can be toxic to cats, so keep Kitty out of your daylily flowerbed.
Bottomline, enjoy your daylilies in a whole new way – sauté them, boil them, stirfry or serve them raw. Oh, and they’re just beautiful in a vase on your table too!
