Strawberry Chrysanthemum Salad

with Blue Cheese, Cinnamon Pecans and Mixed Berry Vinaigrette

I’m fascinated with edible flowers right now …  last week I found a list of 42 edible flowers … and realized I had another edible flower literally on my front doorstep.

My mom brought me a mum from her garden. A confused mum. Chrysanthemums are supposed to flower in the fall, but this one was in full bloom already. Mom said just plant it and pull off the blossoms and it should bloom again in the fall. I didn’t have the heart to pull the blossoms off … it looked so pretty. So I left it in the crumpled metal bucket mom brought it in and set it on my doorstep.

And now I’m so glad I did. Because I LOVE the taste of these flowers! My daughter tasted them too and she loved the taste as well. Said they would be great in a salad. Which made me laugh because that is EXACTLY what I thought.

My white mum flower petals have a floral herb-y taste to them, with a hint of bitterness and slight peppery bite. (Mums come in a wide variety of colors and according to treehugger the flavors vary from peppery to pungent.) Which makes a perfect pairing for a berry salad.

Warnings: You should eat only the petals of chrysanthemum flowers.  Also, be careful to choose a flower plant that hasn’t been sprayed or treated with any strange chemicals (or better yet, grow your own!)

Strawberry Chrysanthemum Salad

with Blue Cheese, Cinnamon Pecans & Mixed Berry Vinaigrette

• Pecan pieces
• Powdered Sugar
• Cinnamon
• Mixed greens and/or fresh spinach leaves
• Strawberries
• Blue Cheese Crumbles
• Chrysanthemum flowers that are free of pesticides and herbicides
• Berry Vinaigrette (recipe here)

Mix some powdered sugar and cinnamon in a bowl till you have a good-tasting mix. Put the nuts in the powdered sugar and toss to coat them. Pour through a colander or sifter to separate the nuts from the powdered sugar mixture. Put the sugared nuts on a baking sheet and bake at 300 degrees for about 5 minutes. The sugar sorts of melts onto the toasted nuts.

Now it’s time to make the salad! Fill your plate or salad bowl mostly with greens, top with sliced strawberries, then a sprinkle of blue cheese crumbles, then take your Chrysanthemum flowers and pull off the petals and sprinkle them all over the salad.  Sprinkle with the cinnamon pecans and drizzle with berry vinaigrette.

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This recipe was also shared at Totally Tasty Tuesdays and Fit & Fabulous Fridays.