Wisteria and carrot salad
April 18, 2014 • Category: Salads
One of the highlights of Spring was this giant wisteria fearlessly climbing fences, loaded with its lavender clusters of flowers. That was in Dallas, off the main road. In Lebanon, in the mountains, wisterias explode that time of year as well. I would snap shots of them every year, hoping that somehow the blooming period would last longer than just a few weeks.
Did you know that wisteria petals are edible? It appears that they are! (Cuisinons les Fleurs, Pierrette Nardo and online on this site). The leaves and seeds are however toxic. In China, I hear they are steamed and eaten with soya sauce or as fritters, sweet or savory. In Pierrette Nardo’s book on edible flowers, her recipe was a salad of hearts of palm, wisteria petals, soy sauce and Chinese chives. My version: some carrots, and a cider vinegar and olive oil dressing. The taste of these petals is as delicate as the flowers, almost sweet.
To see how they are plucked, click here. 
INGREDIENTS:
5 or 6 wisteria clusters
4 large carrots, boiled or steamed and sliced
1/2 cup fava beans or butter beans or peas
Dressing: 1 tablespoon cider vinegar, 3 tablespoon olive oil, salt and black pepper to taste
Garnish with fennel or dill (I used some wild fennel abundant this time of year here)
1. Pluck the flowers and discard the seeds, stems and leaves. Place all the salad ingredients on a plate. Whisk the vinegar and oil and add seasoning. Pour over the salad. Serve.
Comments
8 Comments • Comments Feed
Mia says:
Absolutely Gorgeous!
On April 18, 2014 at 10:42 am
Hisham Assaad says:
I have seen them a couple of weeks ago and was mesmerized by their looks. Never knew they were edible too.
On April 18, 2014 at 1:41 pm
maritachicita says:
I did not know you can eat them but that recipe looks magical
On April 18, 2014 at 1:54 pm
Zara says:
How interesting! I’ve never heard wisteria is edible! Beautiful photography, and thanks for the link on the book, I am very much curious about edible flowers! 🙂
On April 18, 2014 at 3:44 pm
teawithhazel says:
i didn’t know the flowers were edible either..how pretty they look in your salad..jane
On April 19, 2014 at 3:52 pm
Susan says:
This is the beautiful beet salad I have ever seen! I have always been obsessed with the beauty of wisteria and regret that we cannot grow them here.
On April 21, 2014 at 1:32 pm
Oui, Chef says:
I used to have three enormous wisteria plants that grew up over an arbor at my last home…if only I had known their blossoms were edible
On April 26, 2014 at 9:31 am
Nuts about food says:
I did not know that the petals were edible and I wish I knew that a few weeks ago when the wisteria was blooming outside my kitchen window. Will keep it in mind for next year!
On May 7, 2014 at 4:19 am