Spinach flowers are a hidden edible treasure that many gardeners overlook. While we typically consume just the leaves of spinach plants, the flowers can also be a tasty and nutritious addition to your diet But can you really eat these blooms? And if so, how do you use them? This article will cover everything you need to know about eating spinach flowers
Are Spinach Flowers Edible?
The short answer is yes! All parts of the spinach plant are edible, including the leaves, stems, seeds, and flowers. The entire flower is consumable – the petals, buds, and stems can all be eaten raw or cooked
Spinach flowers contain beneficial nutrients like vitamins A, C, and K. In fact, the blooms have even higher levels of some antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compounds compared to regular spinach leaves. So eating the flowers is an excellent way to get extra nutrition from your spinach harvest.
What Do Spinach Flowers Taste Like?
Most people describe the taste of spinach flowers as a milder, more grassy version of the leaf flavor There are also subtle sweet, herbal notes similar to peas or green beans
When eaten fresh, spinach flowers have a soft crunchy texture. Cooking mellows out any bitterness and gives the blooms a texture almost like mushrooms.
However, allowing plants to fully bolt and flower can intensify unpleasant bitterness and astringency in the leaves and blooms. Hot weather while the plant is flowering can also cause some bitterness. To avoid strong flavors, grow spinach in cool conditions and harvest the flowers when young and just opened.
The Best Ways to Eat Spinach Flowers
Spinach blooms can make both sweet and savory dishes more interesting and tasty. These are some of the best ways to eat these flowers:
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Salads – Fresh blooms make lovely edible garnishes for green, grain, and fruit salads. Toast the petals and sprinkle on top for extra crunch.
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Sandwiches – Raw or lightly sautéed flowers can be used in place of regular spinach leaves on sandwiches and wraps.
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Omelets and Frittatas – Cooking mellows any bitterness. Add chopped flowers to egg dishes for nutrition and color.
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Soups – Add whole flowers to brothy soups 2-3 minutes before serving so they wilt but retain shape.
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Pesto – Purée into spinach pesto for a pop of color and floral flavor.
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Quesadillas – Mix blooms with cheese and spices for easy veggie quesadillas.
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Pizza – Scatter fresh flowers over the pizza right before baking.
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Fritters – Fold chopped raw flowers into veggie fritter and pancake batters.
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Smoothies: To add some nutrition to green smoothies without changing the taste too much, blend in a few flowers.
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Salad Dressings – Purée fresh blooms into blender salad dressings for flecks of color and spinach essence.
Spinach flowers pair well with lemon, garlic, onions, cheese, eggs, grains, and herbs. Get creative with using up these tasty blooms in your cooking!
Growing Spinach for Flowers
With the right growing conditions, harvesting armfuls of spinach flowers is simple:
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Sow seeds or transplant starters 4-6 weeks before your last frost date. Select bolt-resistant varieties if you only want leaves.
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Give plants at least 6 hours of direct sun daily in nitrogen-rich soil. Water regularly to keep the soil consistently moist but not soggy.
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Begin harvesting outer spinach leaves when they reach 3-4 inches long to encourage further growth.
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Allow some plants to remain in the garden after the weather warms up to trigger flowering in most spinach varieties.
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Once flower stalks emerge, stop cutting leaves so the plant can focus energy on blooms.
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Harvest flower clusters when buds first open by snipping off the whole cluster with scissors or pruners.
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Pinch off any buds that form during hot spells to prevent bitterness.
With proper care, you can enjoy both tasty spinach leaves and flowers from each plant!
Storing and Preparing Spinach Flowers
Like most edible blooms, spinach flowers are highly perishable. For best quality, use them immediately after picking.
If needed, store freshly harvested flowers in a vase of water in the fridge for 2-3 days maximum. Gently wash right before eating.
For soft cooking, use light steaming or sautéing when cooking spinach flowers. Avoid overcooking which can intensify bitterness. For the best color and texture retention, add blooms at the end of cooking.
Dried flowers will keep in airtight containers for 3-4 months. Rehydrate in water before use. Canning or freezing the flowers are good options for long-term storage.
Are There Any Concerns with Eating Spinach Flowers?
Spinach flowers are safe for most people to consume. However, take these basic precautions:
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Introduce them slowly and watch for any allergic reactions. Stop eating if any occur.
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Only harvest flowers from your homegrown plants or other pesticide-free sources.
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Eat in moderation if you have kidney issues due to the oxalic acid content.
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Consult your doctor first if you have certain autoimmune or digestive conditions like diverticulitis.
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Avoid eating blooms that are brown, damaged, or spoiled.
When grown and prepared properly, spinach flowers make a fun, edible garden flower. Try these unique blooms for a nutritional boost and pop of flavor in your recipes!
Why Does Spinach Bolt?
Bolting is a the spinach plants way of informing you, the gardener, that its time in your garden is almost over. It will send out seeds as soon as it starts to feel stressed, whether it’s because the weather has changed, the plant has run out of room to grow fully, or it has used up all the nutrients in the soil. Like people, plants want to make sure that their line lives on for many generations to come. They do this by making seeds, which make sure that dozens or even hundreds of copies of themselves will exist after the plant dies.
When you think about what the spinach plant wants to do, it’s easy to see how any bad things in its environment would make it act to make sure it lives until the next growing season.
The leaves of bolting spinach plants are edible, but the taste will change. The peak of flavor for your leafy greens occurs before they begin going to seed.
Signs of Bolting Spinach
Here are four signs your spinach plant is bolting, or going to seed.
A healthy spinach plant has leaves that are more oval-shaped, just like the nice, rounded leaves you’d expect to buy from the grocery store. When a spinach plants starts to go to seed, the leaves change and resemble an arrowhead.
This more angular shape is often the first sign that your plant is coming to the end of its life cycle.
The main stem of a spinach plant is usually fairly narrow in circumference, but when the plant decides to bolt, it develops a much thicker main stalk that runs up the center of the plant.
A bolting spinach plant will grow taller. Healthy spinach is usually about a foot tall, 18 inches tall at most, while bolting spinach might reach two feet. The plant is now growing vertically rather than horizontally.
The leaves at the top of a bolting spinach plant will become smaller and tighter, resembling more of a floret. Along the stalk, flowers will form, and these flowers will eventually dry out and produce hundreds of seeds for the next season’s plants.
SPINACH BOLTING ! What to Do When Spinach Bolts
FAQ
Are spinach flowers safe to eat?
Those big, stemmy, flowering greens we received this week are spinach. Everything can be eaten, even the flowers. David says that’s how it’s usually seen in Asia, where he grew up. He’s also quite excited that the spinach is producing large roots this year.
Can you eat spinach that is flowering?
The leaves of bolting spinach plants are edible, but the taste will change. The peak of flavor for your leafy greens occurs before they begin going to seed. Apr 23, 2024.
Should you cut off spinach flowers?
When your spinach starts to flower, you should usually cut it off. If you don’t, it will use its energy to make flowers and seeds instead of leaves, which will make the leaves more bitter.
Is it okay to eat spinach stems?