Salads historically in NZ consisted of some iceberg lettuce, cucumber and tomato. Then some marketing genius came up with the idea of selling bags of salad greens (
mesclun) and housewives right round the country started experimenting with greens that were weeds in a former life.
My salads usually consist of lots of peppery rocket, cress and baby beetroot leaves. To liven this up even further I decided to grow some edible violas.
These beautiful delicate flowers come in a variety of colours and are so intricate to look at. They look stunning in a salad.
And yes I was brave enough to eat them. Not a particular strong taste so completely palatable. A good dressing always helps!
Violas are not the only edible flower. I use borage flowers from my garden in salads and freeze them in ice to add to summer drinks. Nasturtiums are also bright and beautiful to add to salads. Check out
this chart of all the different types of flowers you can eat and what they taste like.
I think it's time again to get a little bit more creative with the salad greens (or purples, yellows, blues and reds). Leave your iceberg lettuce for lunch at Grandmas and play around with some edible flowers instead.
The evolution of the salad