7 Edible Wild Flowers

There is an abundance of flowers blooming in Helsinki right now. These seven are all edible, and they also grow elsewhere in Europe and in North America.

This time we enjoyed them in vegan summer rolls, but the simplest way to serve edible flowers is just to sprinkle the petals on top of any food.

The flowers stay fresh in the fridge for a few days, or they can be dried. We store flowers with some stem in the fridge in small jars or glasses of water, just cut a fresh stem surface with a sharp knife. Individual flowers can be placed in an airtight container (steel box, glass jar, repurposed food grade plastic container) to retain moisture.

Wild pansy / Viola tricolor (keto-orvokki)
Small multicoloured pansy often found on sunny rocky areas. Great on anything, a slightly spicy taste.

Clover / Trifolium (apila)
Pictured here is Trifolium hybridum (alsikeapila), but other very common edible clovers are white clover / Trifolium repens (valkoapila) and red clover / Trifolium pratense (puna-apila).

Daisy / Leucanthemum vulgare
Pictured here is the ox-eye daisy (päivänkakkara) but the common daisy / Bellis perennis (kaunokainen) is also edible.

Rose / Rosa (ruusu)
Many wild and cultivated species, a common wild one is the pink flowered Rosa majalis (metsäruusu). Watch out for the thorns.

Meadowsweet / Filipendula ulmaria (mesiangervo)
Wonderful strong scent and flavour. Great dried as well. If you have aspirin allergy or sensitivity, be careful with meadowsweet as it contains salicylic acid.

Chives / Allium schoenoprasum (ruohosipuli)
Known for its tasty stems that are great when young, the top of the plant is edible as well, both as a bud and a flower.

Fireweed / Rosebay Willowherb / Chamaenerion angustifolium (maitohorsma)
The young stems can be eaten fried alike asparagus, but also the flowers are edible and we recommend using those fresh.
 
While there are many more edible flowers, these are some that are quite common and familiar to many, and easy to recognise. Remember always to only pick plants you recognise and species that aren’t locally endangered.