Sunny Flowers

Sunflowers are such sunny flowers. On a cloudy day, you can look out over your garden and see bright golden bursts of sunshine that just make you smile! But, did you know, Dear Readers, that sunflowers are completely edible from top to bottom? Yep. There is more to a sunflower than just the seed.

Pesticide-free sunflower seedlings (picked to thin a crop) may be eaten right from the ground or in a salad, although you may wish to wash them first but no judging. Cook and prep the mature leaves as you would other greens like Swiss chard or kale, removing tough bits and either boiling or braising on the stovetop. The buds taste similar to an artichoke and may be prepared the same way, perhaps with a touch of butter and good salt. Trim young stalks and slice (they taste similar to celery) and then trim the ends off the petals and toss in a salad for a bright and bitter addition to crispy lettuce. I am drying some petals to play with later and plan to grind them up with coarse, grey sea salt and use the salt to finish a dish or two. Of course there are the seeds to dry and munch but you can see you have plenty of options for using the entire plant!

Visit https://www.livestrong.com (or other internet sites) for more ideas and drying directings, I did.