Edible flowers are an excellent addition to the kitchen, as they can be added to teas, syrups, and a range of baked goods. They can also be used as a garnish in various salads and soups if youāre looking to crank up your food decor a little!
While you probably know that edible flowers should really be used when theyāre fresh, you might be wondering how to preserve them a little longer. As such is it possible to freeze them?
Can You Freeze Edible Flowers? Although you can freeze edible flowers and they will look great when they are frozen, as soon as they thaw they will turn limp and their colours will darken. As such, we donāt recommend freezing them at all.
Do Do Edible Flowers freeze well? No
Can you refreeze Edible Flowers? No
Why You Shouldn’t Freeze Edible Flowers
The whole point of edible flowers is that they look great when added to various baked goods, salads, teas, and soups, and they have the ability to really bring a rather boring dish to life.
Their vibrant colours and sweet taste are the perfect accompaniment to many dishes and theyāre undoubtedly nicest when enjoyed fresh.
If you put edible flowers in the freezer, they will be absolutely fine while they are frozen. But as soon as they start to thaw (which happens very quickly), they will go limp and their colours will darken.
This will make them look shrivelled and disappointing, which makes them rather pointless!
The reason for this is that the ice crystals change the way they look once thawed, so we would avoid freezing them all together.
Letās look at the best way to store edible flowers so they donāt go bad.
How to Store Edible Flowers
As soon as you have harvested your edible flowers, you should preserve them in the refrigerator as quickly as possible.
Itās best to line your flowers in an airtight plastic container instead of a bag, as you donāt need to worry about crushing them or damaging them with other foods while theyāre in the fridge.
In most cases, you can keep the flowers in the fridge for 3-4 days before they will start to shrivel a little, so itās best to use them within this timeframe.
If you want to store them for longer, you will need to dry your edible flowers in a food dehydrator. Once they have been dried on a low heat for several hours, you can box them up in airtight containers and keep them for several months.
Our Verdict
Unfortunately, freezing edible flowers is not a good idea. They should be harvested and refrigerated immediately, before being used within 3-4 days.
If you want to preserve edible flowers for longer than this, you will need to invest in a food dehydrator, which will dry them out sufficiently and enable you to preserve them for several months in an airtight container.