In fresh, light cuisine, flowers give creative dishes and drinks a special kick. Edible orchid flowers provide a luxurious feast for the eyes, with their exciting shape and beautiful colors making gourmets' hearts beat faster. Other orchids, with their fruit pods, give us a tempting ingredient in sweet dishes. Of course, not all types and varieties are suitable for consumption. Read here which orchids you can eat.
Which orchids are edible and how to use them?
Edible orchids are the karma orchid, whose flowers can be used in salads, ice cubes, as sugar decorations or on cakes, and the vanilla orchid, whose fruit pods are used to produce bourbon vanilla and refine sweet dishes.
Karma orchid gives us edible flowers
In view of more than 30,000 species and countless varieties, no scientifically based, general statement can be made regarding edibility. To enhance your menu with elegant orchid flowers, you are on safe ground with the Karma orchid. These usage options are available to you:
- As a fresh and colorful ingredient for salads
- Freeze in ice cubes and add to drinks
- Eating sugar as a sweet temptation for in between meals
- Shocked as decoration for cakes
The Karma orchid is a special breed from the Koppert Kress company in the Netherlands. Cultivation takes place under particularly hygienic conditions to ensure safe edibility. Continuous laboratory tests also guarantee that you can eat the flowers. However, this safety does not apply to specimens that you have cultivated yourself, as it cannot be ruled out that poisonous orchids have crossed over.
Vanilla orchid spices up sweet dishes
The terrestrial vanilla orchid produces long pods that are full of seeds, the basis for valuable Bourbon vanilla. Only with this ingredient do ice cream, baked goods and pudding get their unmistakable, sweet aroma. In contrast to the Karma orchid, with a little gardening experience you can grow the vanilla orchid yourself as a houseplant, harvest the pods and eat them.
Tip
Orchids from the trade are all suitable for the family household as they are not poisonous for young and old. The only danger posed by exotic houseplants is to cats. As cat lovers repeatedly report, their furry roommate suffered from nausea and vomiting after nibbling on the leaves.
