This recipe is a follow up to the flower pickling blog that I shared a few weeks ago. Anna at The Veggie Tree is such an inspiration with her delicious healthy recipes and incredible knowledge of edible weeds, seaweed and flowers. I’d love to do one of her edible flower workshops in the near future after throughly enjoying Anna’s Forage and Feast edible weed and seaweed workshop.
There are so many different flowers you can pickle and one of the most beautiful and delicious is the magnolia flower, it’s also a medicinal flower. We are coming to the end of the season in some places around the country, if you are lucky enough to still have these stunning blooms give this recipe a try. Pickled magnolias make gorgeous Christmas gifts too.
From Anna …
This Pickled Magnolia Flower Recipe is not only delicious, it is also a beautiful addition to your preserving collection. There is no doubt I LOVE edible flowers in the garden but this one took me by surprise… Magnolia petals are edible! I just had to have a play, and I have to say that I’m stoked with the results. We are on a shady side of a hill so our flowers are just starting to come into full bloom now, but I have been admiring others trees for a couple of weeks already.
Such a beautiful start to Spring and you could get a few jars potted to give as Christmas gifts for the foodies in your life.
It turns out that the bark and flowers of magnolia are super medicinal for all sorts of things from reducing anxiety and stress to maintaining a healthy liver and provides relief from menstrual cramps. Chinese medicine has used magnolia bark and flowers for thousands of years providing powerful health benefits to humans, while other benefits have been revealed through modern research into the precise chemical components. They are also said to improve respiratory health, detoxify the body, stimulate appetite even improve cognitive disorders like Alzheimer’s disease.
Their taste raw is nice but not outstanding, pickle them however and you get a lovely rose tasting pretty pink coloured liquid and the petals have a similar taste to pickled ginger with floral notes that also imparts flavour into the pickling liquid.
The bees love these flowers also and seem to get stuck right into them, so give them a little shake if you are picking whole flowers from the tree, you can also foraging the fallen petals from underneath larger trees.
PICKLED MAGNOLIA FLOWERS RECIPE
Great as an alternative to pickled ginger for sushi or as a condiment for burgers, sandwiches, grissini or in a salad; pickled magnolia flowers are a spring time delight. The blanching helps retain the colour in the petals.
Vegan | Gluten-free
Makes 1x300ml jar
Sterilise jar/s in the oven at 150°C, leave it in the oven to keep warm while you make the recipe.
Gather:
4 c (lightly packed) magnolia petals
Bring a large pot of water to the boil add:
1 tsp salt
Add the petals to the pot and blanche for 30 seconds. Drain through a colander and cool quickly under a cold running tap. Gently squeeze out the excess water.
Add the following ingredients into a pot:
1 c apple cider vinegar
1/2 c unrefined cane sugar
1 tsp salt
2cm piece fresh ginger, sliced thinly (optional)
Bring to the boil then simmer until the sugar and salt are dissolved. Place the leaves into the warm jar and top with the hot pickling liquid and seal with the lid. Sealed this pickle will last for a long time, once opened store in the fridge.
NOTE – Magnolia Flowers are unsafe to consume while you are pregnant.
For more inspirational recipes along with stunning photos and information on foraging and edible weeds, sea weed and flowers head over to The Veggie Tree. You may also want to purchase one of Anna’s fabulous recipe books!
About The Author: Katie Brooks
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