Rinse them under cool running water right before they go on the plate. This is a light job, not a scrub. Hold the flower by its stem and let the water run over the petals. Turn it once so the back gets wet too, then shake it off and lay the bloom on a dry towel. Washing edible flowers takes seconds per stem, and your aim is to move dirt and insects off the petals without crushing the flower on the way.
Water pressure is where washing edible flowers goes wrong. Petals have no real structure to push back with, so a sprayer nozzle or a hard stream flattens them in one pass. Keep the tap low. Let the water fall through the flower instead of hitting it, and cup your free hand underneath to take the force out. Your hands do the work here, not the faucet. You can feel a petal go slack under your finger long before you can see the bruise.
The colander sat on my counter with a dozen nasturtiums in it and the salad was already dressed. I ran the tap cold, tipped the flowers in a few at a time and rolled each one over with a finger. I checked the throat of every bloom. Two of them held a small black beetle, so those went in the bin. The rest got a shake and landed on the salad about a minute later.
Timing matters more than technique. Nebraska Extension says to wash gently immediately before use, and that one word does most of the work. Cleaning edible flowers in the morning for a plate that goes out at seven misses the point of the rinse. Do it last, once your plates are out and the rest of the food is ready. The wash is also your insect check, so it has to happen while you can still pull a bloom and bin it.
Good handling starts out in your garden. Pick in the cool of the day, after the dew has evaporated. Leave anything wilted or past its prime on the plant. Short-stemmed flowers carry the tightest window of all. They want to be used within 3 to 4 hours of cutting, so build your picking around the meal rather than the other way around.
Storing edible flowers is simple work. Put short-stemmed blooms in a plastic bag with damp paper towels and set the bag in the fridge. Long-stemmed ones go in a container of water, the way you would treat any cut flower. Wrapped in plastic with a moist paper towel, cooled blooms stay fresh for several days. Still, the ones you cut this morning will sit better on a plate than the ones you cut on Tuesday.
If your rinse has to happen ahead of the meal, lay the wet flowers between damp towels and put them back in the fridge until you need them. That holds them better than a plate sitting out under a warm kitchen light. Pull them out at the last minute and place them by hand, one at a time, rather than tipping a whole bowl over your food.
Float limp flowers on ice water for a few minutes and they firm up enough to serve. It costs you a bowl and some ice, so keep one going any time you are picking ahead.
The last step in washing edible flowers is the look you give each bloom. Stare straight into the throat, because that is where insects sit out of the light. A flower that reads as clean from above can still hold one down in the base. Part the petals with a finger and check. If you are not sure about a bloom, leave it out of the dish. One beetle in a plated salad is a story your guests will tell for years.
Read the full article: Edible Flowers: What to Eat, What to Skip
