Chrysanthemum flowers as food. What useful properties this plant is famous for, is it possible for everyone to eat it. Methods for making tea from petals, recipes for unusual desserts. As you can see, the benefits of chrysanthemum flowers are enormous, which makes them an absolutely priceless food product.
Contraindications and harm of chrysanthemum flowers
However, unfortunately, there are cases when, despite all the usefulness, chrysanthemum flowers are forbidden to be eaten. This plant, like all other products, has some contraindications, however, fortunately, there are not so many of them.
With caution, the product should be introduced into the diet of allergy sufferers. Individual intolerance to the components of the flower is easily calculated. As a rule, if you are allergic to chrysanthemums, their smell alone will cause one or another discomfort. Of course, in this case, you shouldn't even think about eating them. In general, an allergy to chrysanthemums is not a rare phenomenon, and therefore it is worth being careful not to introduce them into the diet during pregnancy. Chrysanthemum drinks and dishes should not be given to small children.
As for the feeding period, the situation is quite twofold. On the one hand, the harm of chrysanthemum flowers can manifest itself as an allergic reaction in a mother or child, on the other hand, the product improves lactation. The best solution is to gradually introduce the product. If it causes even the slightest sign of allergy, skip the drink and don't worry, there are tons of other lactogonics.
Note! If you have certain acute or chronic diseases, then before introducing chrysanthemum flowers into the diet, you need to consult with your doctor. This plant contains many strong biologically active substances that will only benefit a healthy body or have a neutral effect, and can harm the patient.
Chrysanthemum flower recipes
The use of chrysanthemum flowers in recipes for various dishes is, of course, a very exotic phenomenon in our country, but in the absence of contraindications, it is simply a sin to ignore the potential of this most useful food product. The petals are ideal for fruit and vegetable salads, and you can also make various desserts from them, including jams, syrups and preserves.
Let's take a look at some interesting recipes:
- Sweet Chrysanthemum Petal Chips … Take a chrysanthemum flower and carefully cut off all the petals. Soak them in water for 20-30 minutes, then rinse thoroughly and dry well (do not use petals with defects). Prepare the egg-flour mixture: beat the egg (1 piece), add wheat flour to it (1-2 tablespoons). Heat any vegetable oil (50-70 ml) strongly and pour it into a deep bowl. Now you need to work quickly until the oil has cooled down. Take a petal and dip it first in the egg-flour mixture, then in the oil - if it cools, it needs to be heated, it is important that it is very hot. You need to spread the petals on soft paper so that it absorbs excess oil. When they are all on paper, sprinkle them with powdered sugar. This original delicacy is ideal to serve with ice cream.
- Chrysanthemum jam … Tear off, rinse and dry the petals (100 grams), remove the bad ones. Put the petals in a bowl and sprinkle with sugar (100 grams), after an hour start rubbing the petals with your hands, you need to achieve the appearance of moisture. Now add lemon juice (1 tablespoon), stir and leave the mixture in a warm place overnight. In the morning, put a pot of water (200 ml) on the fire, when it boils, add sugar (100 grams) and the infused petals. Once the sugar has dissolved, turn off and cool the jam to room temperature. Then bring to a boil again and let cool again - these steps will get rid of the water and make the syrup rich. Finally, bring the jam to a boil again and, without waiting for it to cool completely, pour it into sterilized jars.
- Fruit salad with chrysanthemum petals … Cut an apple into cubes (1 piece), a pear into thin strips (1 piece). Peel a tangerine (1 piece), divide into wedges and cut each in half. Place all fruits in a bowl and sprinkle with fresh petals to taste. Prepare a dressing: Combine melted honey (2 teaspoons) with orange juice (2 tablespoons). Pour the dressing over the salad, stir, and after 10-15 minutes you can eat.
Such delicious and healthy experiments can be carried out in your kitchen with chrysanthemum petals, however, when using flowers in cooking, you always need to be sure of their quality and that the variety is edible. Of course, chrysanthemums bought from a flower shop will not work for you - they are treated with strong chemicals during the growing process. Ideally, of course, use flowers personally grown in a summer cottage or indoors.
Chrysanthemum flower drink recipes
If you are not ready to add flower petals to dishes and eat desserts made from them, but you want to appreciate the healing properties of the product, you can resort to less exotic solutions and just brew an infusion from the plant.
There are a lot of recipes for drinks, we will tell you a few of them:
- "Pure" infusion … This recipe assumes the use of only chrysanthemum petals in the preparation. It is prepared in the following proportions: 200 ml of water is taken for 5-6 flowers (depending on their size). Flowers can be placed intact in the brewing container, or you can pre-divide them into petals. Pour boiling water over them, and leave for 3-8 minutes, depending on the desired strength.
- Chrysanthemum flower tea … If the first drink seems too rich to you, you can try this recipe. Brew ordinary tea, green or black, in the traditional way for yourself, but add some chrysanthemum petals to the brew. This will make the drink healthier, and the floral flavor will not be pronounced.
- Infusion of chrysanthemum petals, honeysuckle and hawthorn … For this drink, mix chrysanthemum flowers (2 teaspoons), hawthorn and honeysuckle fruits (1 teaspoon each), pour boiling water (400 ml) and let it brew for 10-15 minutes. It turns out to be very tasty and healthy, it is especially good at lowering cholesterol levels.
Of course, you can allow yourself any other experiments with drinks, add various herbs, dried berries, fruits and spices, thus enhancing one or another beneficial effect of flowers. And, of course, no one forbids the use of sweeteners.
Interesting facts about chrysanthemum
There is a beautiful legend about how chrysanthemums appeared. Once the dragon decided to steal the sun from people, but when he grabbed it, he burned himself and in a rage began to scratch and gnaw the heavenly body - sparks fell on the ground, which turned into beautiful flowers.
In Japan, the chrysanthemum is depicted on the imperial seal, adopted back in 1889. Also, the flower can be found on the unofficial national emblem and coins, and one of the country's most prestigious awards is the Order of the Chrysanthemum.
In China, it is considered a divine flower, magical properties are attributed to it and is grown everywhere. In many eastern countries, chrysanthemum symbolizes longevity, but in Europe, on the contrary, the flower is associated with death, especially for white chrysanthemums, since compositions of them are frequent "guests" at funerals. In Malta, flowers are not even kept at home, much less given to each other.
In Eastern culture, there is an amazing art of creating dolls from chrysanthemum petals. In our climate, chrysanthemum can be planted outside at the beginning of April due to the high cold resistance of the culture. It does not require special care, except that regular watering and weed control. If the soil is very poor, it is better to feed the flowers; an ash solution will be an ideal fertilizer for the plant.
Watch a video about edible chrysanthemum:
Chrysanthemum flowers can not only beautify our life, but also enrich the diet, improve health. This is a very useful product, although not devoid of contraindications, so you should definitely familiarize yourself with them before eating it. You also need to remember two more rules: store flowers are not good for food, they are pumped up with chemistry; not all varieties of chrysanthemum are edible.
