Edible Flowers and Plants Add Nutrients, Texture and Flavor to Cuisine
In partnership with: Michigan Department of Agriculture & Rural Development
Most people might expect to find bright, delicate flowers displayed nicely in a vase or growing in a backyard garden. But what about on or within your favorite dish? “You can do a lot more with edible flowers than just use them as garnishes,” says Meiko Krishok of Guerrilla Food in Detroit. “Using edible flowers has been a long tradition in Indigenous cuisine, and anything that’s colorful will be good for your body. We try to think deeper than what it’s doing to the dish visually.”
Krishok got her start in the food industry by volunteering at a local farm where she had access to a food truck and started serving food sourced from the farm.
“It started small and grew organically,” she says. “Now, we do a little bit of everything. We offer catering, operate as a takeout place and are kind of like a meal subscription service where people can take food and reheat at home. We change the menu every week based off what we get from our farm partners.”
Krishok says that part of Guerrilla Food’s mission in using local ingredients is to utilize the entire plant, including flowers and stems that most people might discard.
“A lot of people don’t know that those parts of the plant can impart a lot of flavor and texture into a dish,” she says.
In her dishes, Krishok says she commonly uses nasturtiums, which have a peppery taste, and purslane, which many people consider to be a weed.
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“Purslane is really nutrient-dense and has an interesting flavor and texture,” Krishok says. “I use it a lot in salad mixes, or you can cook it in soups. It adds a bit of bulk.”
For consumers looking to experiment, Krishok recommends subscribing to a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) box to help support local farmers and discover plants and ingredients that aren’t common in grocery stores.
“A CSA [box] is great because it encourages people to start backward. You start with the produce or flowers you get and work from there to create the dish,” she says.
Learn more about Guerrilla Food and its meal subscription services at guerrillafooddetroit.com.