BS: Cheap eats, anyone?

Subject: BS: Cheap eats, anyone?
From: frogprince
Date: 01 Jun 10 - 09:49 AM

Shopping the fruits and veggies in the local grocery last evening, I noticed a little envelope labeled "Edible Flowers" for 2 bucks. Then I saw the weight: 1/4 oz. Only 8 bucks an ounce. Only one-hundred-forty-eight bucks a pound. What a deal!

Subject: RE: BS: Cheap eats, anyone?
From: gnomad
Date: 01 Jun 10 - 10:07 AM

Well, not knowing the nutritive properties of these flowers I reckon they are probably for flavour and/or decoration. In that field $8/oz is chickenfeed, try safron at $418.00/oz if you really want to splash out.

Sticking to the fruit & veg will doubtless be more economical.

Subject: RE: BS: Cheap eats, anyone?
From: MMario
Date: 01 Jun 10 - 11:04 AM

HIghly perishable, easily damaged and difficult to grow so that they can both be be eaten and NOT have insect damage, etc.

Subject: RE: BS: Cheap eats, anyone?
From: Bert
Date: 01 Jun 10 - 11:58 AM

I don't know about difficult to grow.

The only ones that I have grown are borage, chives and nasturtiums and they were pretty easy. You'd have to grow a hell of a lot to get a marketable quantity though.

Just last week I threw a handful of chives flowers on a potato salad. Very few got eaten, people just don't realize that they are edible.

Subject: RE: BS: Cheap eats, anyone?
From: MMario
Date: 01 Jun 10 - 12:11 PM

Not so much difficult to grow as difficult to grow to specs...

even chives and nasturtiums can get insect damaged - but with flowers it's harder to use any kind of insecticide as there is almost *NO* delay between flowering and when you need to process them for sale...

almost all require hand harvest and packageing.

I used chive blossoms in my potato salad this weekend. The heat we've been having I may only have them another week.

Subject: RE: BS: Cheap eats, anyone?
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 01 Jun 10 - 01:43 PM

We have used chives and nasturtiums.

Still early 'spring' here in central Alberta; chives are getting good growth but no flowers yet.

Frost and snow strong two nights ago. Had to cover petunias and other annuals.

Subject: RE: BS: Cheap eats, anyone?
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 01 Jun 10 - 10:49 PM

If you think that's expensive, check out saffron

Subject: RE: BS: Cheap eats, anyone?
From: LadyJean
Date: 02 Jun 10 - 01:47 AM

The only edible flowers I can think of are naturtiums, which are remarkably easy to grow. Of course there's violets. It takes a lot of those to make an ounce.

Subject: RE: BS: Cheap eats, anyone?
From: mousethief
Date: 02 Jun 10 - 01:56 AM

Nasturtiums here get oodles of tiny little black bugs. Which is weird because we grew them when I was a kid, not 30 miles from this spot, and they never did.