5 Herbs With Delicious Edible Flowers

If you've ever tried growing your own herbs, or foraged for them out in the wild, you may have noticed them flowering. Now, edible flowers are something of a fine dining cliché, but they're not just there to look pretty — herb flowers can be something of a secret weapon in the kitchen if you know how to use them properly. Though often overlooked or even thrown away, these flowers can pack a punch all of their own in the flavor department, bringing complexity, a beautiful pop of color, and a delicate texture to dishes.

Most herb flowers taste like the plant they grow from, albeit with a slightly subtler, more floral perfume, but some can add new dimensions entirely, bringing sweetness, bitterness and freshness beyond what you might get from the leaf. They're versatile, too, equally at-home on top of dishes as an attractive garnish and in a jar, being pickled for later use. They also make for delicious infused oils or vinegars for a quick burst of brightness that lasts, and can also be blended to make delicious herby dips like tzatziki (perfect to pair with a pulled pork sandwich) or flavorsome soft cheese spreads. While not all herbaceous flowers are safe to eat (the plant itself must be edible and untreated) if you grow your own, or buy edible flowers from the right sources, you open up a whole new world of herbaceous flavors, including basil and cilantro flowers.

Where better to start than the king of herbs? Basil, the hero herb of seasonal Italian cooking, is famous for its bright, verdant flavor that pairs perfectly with everything from fresh fish, to slow roasted meats, to (of course) delicious homemade pastas. While you've probably cooked with the leaves before, the flower is a delicious and, dare we say, more complex addition to your herb garden. The flowers themselves are very small, white or purple in color, and bloom at the tips of the basil stems. They're most commonly seen on Genovese basil (the more familiar variety to Western palates) but are also often seen on Thai basil plants. They have a soft texture, with a similarly subtle flavor — more delicate than the leaves — with a slightly spicy, almost clove-like finish. Those aforementioned Thai basil flowers will, like the plant itself, add a touch of anise or licorice, making them great in cocktails and desserts.

Speaking of cocktails, they're a great way to use these tasty little flowers. You could use them as a garnish, bringing a touch of brightness to heavier cocktails like a negroni, for example. You could also muddle them up and incorporate them into a gin basil smash or a summery basil mojito. Use them in conjunction with the basil leaves for a more intense herby flavor, scattering them over a fresh Caprese salad, a tomato bruschetta or even a homemade pizza!

Chives are a point of pride for chefs — getting the perfect chop on a bunch of chives is something of a badge of honor. They're ubiquitous in kitchens for a reason — not only are they delicious, with a heady, pungent oniony flavor, but they also make for a simple yet rather beautiful garnish for just about anything. Their flowers, meanwhile, are delicious in their own right, and make for a particularly pretty topping for savory dishes. They're also only in season for a short while (like other prized alliums such as ramps) which makes them all the more special — that means that you should really use them while you can!

The flowers themselves are purple, frilly, pom-pom shaped blossoms that grow on the top of chive stalks around late spring. They have a deeply aromatic, oniony flavor, with a subtle hint of garlic — much like ramps, they're essentially a greatest hits compilation for the whole allium family. Each blossom is made of dozens of teeny florets that you can leave whole or separate to sprinkle over dishes. Their flavor works particularly well in compound butters, whether spread over some crusty homemade focaccia bread, or melted onto a meaty steak. They also make for a delicious alternative to chives in a number of dishes, from a classic French omelette to scrambled eggs to potato salads (the perfect summer barbecue side). They take to pickling well, too, and a brief soak in white vinegar will leave you with a vibrant pink liquid, perfect for garnishing.

Cilantro, or coriander to those outside of the Americas, is one of the most important herbs in all of cookery. From Mexico to Vietnam, it's the bedrock of some of the world's most popular cuisines — and yet its flowers still manage to fly under the radar. They're small, usually white in color and very thin, almost lacey in texture. When cilantro sprouts in warm weather, they'll crop up (much like basil flowers) on the ends of the plant's stalks. They form just before coriander seeds (which are in themselves a delicious ingredient commonly used in curries, especially in South Asian cooking).

Their flavor, like the plant they are a part of, is fresh, bright, citrusy with a fresh vegetal aroma — but unlike the leaves they have a very delicate flavor profile, and one that's reported to be less "soapy," making them an ideal choice for a curious cilantro skeptic. Like the other flowers on this list, they work well wherever you would use cilantro — toss them with fresh grilled seafood like prawns and white fish, or sprinkle them over a zingy ceviche, or use them to bring some floral brightness to fish tacos. And why not keep the Mexican theme going and fold the flowers into a homemade guacamole? They also work fabulously in East Asian inspired dishes like pho or summer rolls, as well as spicy soups like tom yum for a flash of green that's easy on the eyes and the palate!

Thyme, like rosemary and oregano, is part of the family of hard herbs — deeply aromatic, earthy plants that stand up to (and even benefit from) cooking. But while the herbs themselves are dark and hearty, their flowers are surprisingly dainty. They are small, purple or pink in color, and tend to grow in clusters on common thyme and lemon thyme plants. Like the herb itself, thyme flowers are warm — a little spicy and peppery, with a hint of cloves. They are less intense, however, and have a slightly floral touch — one that's accented by a hit of citrus in lemon thyme flowers.

They make for a refined, attractive finishing touch for savory tarts, especially ones with roasted vegetables (a galette with zucchini and goat's cheese, for example, would be an ideal pairing). Quiches, too, make for a perfect pairing with the flowers' subtly spicy, woodsy notes. Thyme traditionally pairs with chicken — especially when braised or roasted, and so do its flowers. In fact, most roast meats benefit from a little sprinkling of thyme, so go ahead and use it to finish off a roast leg of lamb, or even a joint of beef — perhaps by infusing it with a garlic oil, or even a spicy, herby honey glaze. Much like its hard herb cousin rosemary, it thrives in a compound butter, which is an effective way of infusing the flower's flavors into a dish.

While most herbaceous flowers are essentially a pared back, subtler version of their leaves — at least in terms of flavor — the flowers of the dill plant are quite the opposite. They're intensely dill-forward, taking all the best bits of this most iconic of herbs and amplifying them: grassy, lemony, fresh, and a little bitter. The flowers themselves are flat-topped, yellow blooms that grow in clusters. They're used in traditional pickle brines, so have that unmistakably pickle-y aroma, and pair extremely well with sharper, tangier ingredients.

It makes sense, then, that pickling is the way to go with these flowers. Whether you're pickling the flowers themselves to add them either as a garnish or into a salad, for example, or adding them into a brine to infuse pickled cucumbers or onions (or other vegetables like fennel) with an intense dill flavor. They're delicious fresh, too, and are fantastic with refined, simple Nordic flavors like salmon, potato salad, and even vodka! Infuse them into a bottle of the good stuff (or other more neutral spirits like aquavit) for a few weeks for a powerful, herby shot that makes for a perfect digestif. Alternatively, use them as a more traditional garnish for soups such as borscht, or healthy, fresh-tasting grain bowls. Remember that a little goes a long way here — the flavor is punchy, so make sure to use a bit of trial and error to dial in just how much you want to use in any particular dish!