Make every dining experience fun and flavorful by including garden fresh herbs, vegetables and flowers in your meals. Allowing guests to harvest and season their drinks, entrees and sides from the garden or container creates an interactive experience they are sure to remember.
Start your gathering with a review of the menu and a tour of the gardens. Provide guests with a harvest basket and snips so they can collect all their favorite ingredients. Or gather an assortment of herbs and vegetables in advance and display them in containers for your family and guests to make their own selections.
Include a few herbs and vegetables that can be blended, muddled or added to yours and your guests’ favorite beverage. Use the hollow stems of lovage as a straw for tomato juice or bloody Mary. You’ll enjoy the celery flavor this edible straw provides. Provide mint, basil or rosemary leaves to flavor iced tea and lemonade. Just set the herbs near the beverage table for easy access, provide needed utensils, and herbal cocktail recipes.
Bring the garden to the party by placing a few containers of herbs, edible flowers and vegetables on your balcony, patio, deck or near the grill. Use small herb containers as edible centerpieces and add a pair of garden scissors or snips. Label the plants, offer seasoning suggestions, and allow your family and guests to season the meal to their taste when it arrives. Remind guests to adjust the quantity of herbs used to allow for the difference in flavor intensity of fresh versus dried herbs. In general, you will need two to three times more fresh than dried herbs.
Add a bit of color and unique flavor to the meal with edible flowers. Pick the flowers early in the day when they are at their peak and taste best. Wash them by dipping the flower in a bowl of water and gently shaking. Remove the bitter tasting base of the petal and the reproductive parts from larger flowers before preparing.
Make sure the flowers you select are edible and free of pesticides. Let your guests know they can eat the flowers, or you’ll end up with a pile of petals on the side of every plate. Try nasturtium and daylily blossoms stuffed with cream cheese; calendula, pansy, and borage petals sprinkled on salad; chive flowers for baked potatoes; and mint leaves on top of a slice of chocolate cake.
Harvest your garden and containers regularly to keep plants looking good and producing. Cut the outer leaves of leaf lettuce when they are four to six inches tall to keep the plant growing new leaves. Pick peppers and tomatoes when fully ripe, so the plant continues flowering and forming new fruit. Remove faded flowers as needed to keep flowering plants covered with blooms.
Dress up your table with a bouquet of your favorite garden flowers. Pick a few extras to send home with your guests and they’ll surely remember your special gathering filled with homegrown flavor and beauty.
Melinda Myers is the author of numerous books, including Small Space Gardening. Myers web site is www.MelindaMyers.com.
