VOA慢速英语2020--可以吃的花

Flowers You Can Eat

From VOA Learning English, this is the Health & Lifestyle report.

Flowers are an important part of our natural world. Their beauty and smell can make us happy. Flowers serve as food for insects, birds, and animals. And they can also feed us!

Some flowers add color, unexpected taste, and beauty to food and drinks. And more people are adding them to their meals. To find out more, we talked with a few Americans who like to grow and eat their own flowers.

Kathy Jentz is the publisher of Washington Gardener magazine. She also gives talks to Washington, D.C. area gardeners. She tells them how to grow and use edible¹ flowers.

Preparation

Jentz says the way to prepare most edible flowers for your next dish or meal is to wash them lightly under water. Then remove the white parts of the flower. She also says to cut off the pistil and stamen.

When speaking about edible flowers, Jentz often begins with three talking points:

Know your flowers. Which ones are safe to eat?

Know the source. Where did the flowers come from?

Know your allergies². Which plants are you allergic³ to?

Know your flowers.

Some flowers are poisonous and can make you sick. There are a few flowers that people think are edible, Jentz says, even though they are poisonous.

The most common are buttercup and sweet pea. She says the flower of the sweet pea should not be mixed up with the flower of the pea plant, which is a vegetable. Other poisonous flowers are azalea, wisteria, and fox glove.

Now, here is a quick list of common edible flowers.

Dandelion Nasturtium Marigold Borage Violet Lavender Lilac Chrysanthemum⁴ Chamomile Rose Daylily Hibiscus

Which edible flowers are good to start with? Dandelions!

One of the best edible flowers to start with is the dandelion. Jentz says they are nutritious⁵, and you can eat the entire plant, not just the flower. This is not true for many edible flowers.

Nasturtium

Nasturtium is easy to grow and, Jentz says, has a peppery taste. It is perfect for container gardening and for people living in a hot, big city. This flower often grows well in very difficult conditions.

"A container-grown flower that works really is nasturtium. It actually prefers container growing to being in the ground. The worst conditions you can give nasturtium -- the better it grows."

Many people add nasturtium to fruit or green salads. One such person is Elizabeth Lyttleton, a mother and cycling activist⁶ in the D.C. area. In warm weather, Lyttleton says she grows nasturtium on her front doorstep. She likes to add its flowers to salads or serve with other foods.

Herb flowers

Also, in the D.C. area, Roshani Kothari says she has been growing and eating edible flowers for many years. She says that herbs are great ways to get into the world of edible flowers. Flowers from mint, rosemary, dill, oregano, cilantro, and sage⁷ add a little flavor of the herb. But they are not as strong as the leaves of the plant.

Kothari says one of her favorite herbs is cilantro.

"And cilantro is easy to grow in a pot. If you let it go to flower, it will come back year after year. And um, it's used in so many different cultures. For example, I'm from India originally from the state of Gujarat and we use cilantro as a garnish⁸ in all the dishes we make. Without cilantro it's not quite ... quite done yet!"

Know the source of the flowers

Experts say the safest way to eat edible flowers is to grow them yourself. If you buy from a farmer's market or a farmer, ask them directly if they used any chemicals. Be careful buying from a food or flower store. Their flowers may have been treated with dangerous chemicals.

If you go outdoors to pick edible flowers, says Kathy Jentz, do so in a safe area. Do not collect flowers from an area where dog owners walk their dogs or where chemical treatments have been used.

Borage

Jentz says her personal favorite edible flower is borage. She says the plant's blue star-shaped flowers taste like cucumbers. So, borage can go with many dishes.

"My personal favorite is borage. The flower petals¹⁰ smell and taste like cucumber. The fact that you can add it on fruit salads, throw it in your gazpacho or use it to garnish a drink is a nice bonus."

Violets

Violets are another popular edible flower. They have a sweet flavor. Use the violets in salads, sweet treats, and drinks.

Also, Jentz says violets can last a long time when left in a sealed container in the refrigerator. But she adds it is important to cut the flowers at the right time -- just as they open.

This is not true of all edible flowers. Some wilt¹¹ quite fast. To avoid this, Jentz says you can use the method people have been using for centuries – dry them.

Vegetable flowers

Kothari explains that it is important to know how plants grow. Vegetables send out edible flowers if you let them go to seed.

However, if you take all the flowers from your vegetable plants, our experts warn, you will not have any vegetables! If you want to harvest the flowers of vegetables, Jentz suggests growing a vegetable plant just for its flowers.

Chamomile

Chamomile flowers are small and taste like apple. Chamomile is often used in tea. Jentz says chamomile flowers dry nicely and they keep their flavor.

However, the website WebMD warns avoid chamomile "if you are allergic to these plants: ragweed, daisies, marigolds, or chrysanthemums¹².

Know your own allergies

If you have allergies to ragweed and other types of pollen¹³, Jentz advises to avoid any flower in the daisy family.

Also, if you suffer from allergies or have other food sensitivities, Jentz suggests trying new edible flowers one at a time. If you eat many different ones for the first time and then get sick, you will not know which one made you sick.

Jentz also gives this warning: Do not give edible flowers to any child under the age of four.

And that's the Health & Lifestyle report. Have fun trying different edible flowers.

I'm Anna Matteo.

Words in This Story

pistil – n. the part in the center of a flower that is made up of the stigma¹⁴, style, and ovary and produces the seed

stamen – n. the part of a flower that produces pollen and is made up of an anther and a filament¹⁵

allergy¹⁶ – n. a medical condition that causes someone to become sick after eating, touching¹⁷, or breathing something that is harmless to most people allergic – adj.

peppery – adj. having a lively, aggressive, or somewhat shocking quality

herb – n. a plant or a part of a plant that is used as medicine or to give flavor to food

garnish – n. something (such as lemon wedges or parsley) used

to decorate or flavor food or drink

petal⁹ – n. one of the soft, colorful parts of a flower

refrigerator – n. a device or room that is used to keep things (such as food and drinks) cold

wilt – v. of a plant : to bend over because of not having enough water

1 edible   

n.食品，食物；adj.可食用的

参考例句：

• Edible wild herbs kept us from dying of starvation.我们靠着野菜才没被饿死。
• This kind of mushroom is edible,but that kind is not.这种蘑菇吃得，那种吃不得。

2 allergies   

n.[医]过敏症；[口]厌恶，反感；（对食物、花粉、虫咬等的）过敏症( allergy的名词复数 )；变态反应，变应性

参考例句：

• Food allergies can result in an enormous variety of different symptoms. 食物过敏会引发很多不同的症状。 来自辞典例句
• Let us, however, examine one of the most common allergies; hayfever. 现在让我们来看看最常见的变态反应的一种--枯草热。 来自辞典例句

3 allergic   

adj.过敏的，变态的

参考例句：

• Alice is allergic to the fur of cats.艾丽斯对猫的皮毛过敏。
• Many people are allergic to airborne pollutants such as pollen.许多人对空气传播的污染物过敏，比如花粉。

4 chrysanthemum   

n.菊，菊花

参考例句：

• Each mourner wore a black armband and a white paper chrysanthemum.每个吊唁的人都佩带着黑纱和一朵白纸菊花。
• There are many species of chrysanthemum.菊花品种很多。

5 nutritious   

adj.有营养的，营养价值高的

参考例句：

• Fresh vegetables are very nutritious.新鲜蔬菜富于营养。
• Hummingbirds have discovered that nectar and pollen are very nutritious.蜂鸟发现花蜜和花粉是很有营养的。

6 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

7 sage   

n.圣人，哲人；adj.贤明的，明智的

参考例句：

• I was grateful for the old man's sage advice.我很感激那位老人贤明的忠告。
• The sage is the instructor of a hundred ages.这位哲人是百代之师。

8 garnish   

n.装饰，添饰，配菜

参考例句：

• The turkey was served with a garnish of parsley.做好的火鸡上面配上芫荽菜做点缀。
• The sandwiches came with a rather limp salad garnish.三明治配着蔫软的色拉饰菜。

9 petal   

n.花瓣

参考例句：

• Each white petal had a stripe of red.每一片白色的花瓣上都有一条红色的条纹。
• A petal fluttered to the ground.一片花瓣飘落到地上。

10 petals   

n.花瓣( petal的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• white petals tinged with blue 略带蓝色的白花瓣
• The petals of many flowers expand in the sunshine. 许多花瓣在阳光下开放。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

11 wilt   

v.(使)植物凋谢或枯萎；(指人)疲倦，衰弱

参考例句：

• Golden roses do not wilt and will never need to be watered.金色的玫瑰不枯萎绝也不需要浇水。
• Several sleepless nights made him wilt.数个不眠之夜使他憔悴。

12 chrysanthemums   

n.菊花( chrysanthemum的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The cold weather had most deleterious consequences among the chrysanthemums. 寒冷的天气对菊花产生了极有害的影响。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The chrysanthemums are in bloom; some are red and some yellow. 菊花开了， 有红的，有黄的。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

13 pollen   

n.[植]花粉

参考例句：

• Hummingbirds have discovered that nectar and pollen are very nutritious.蜂鸟发现花蜜和花粉是很有营养的。
• He developed an allergy to pollen.他对花粉过敏。

14 stigma   

n.耻辱，污名；(花的)柱头

参考例句：

• Being an unmarried mother used to carry a social stigma.做未婚母亲在社会上曾是不光彩的事。
• The stigma of losing weighed heavily on the team.失败的耻辱让整个队伍压力沉重。

15 filament   

n.细丝；长丝；灯丝

参考例句：

• The source of electrons in an electron microscope is a heated filament.电子显微镜中的电子源，是一加热的灯丝。
• The lack of air in the bulb prevents the filament from burning up.灯泡内缺乏空气就使灯丝不致烧掉。

16 allergy   

n.(因食物、药物等而引起的)过敏症

参考例句：

• He developed an allergy to pollen.他对花粉过敏。
• The patient had an allergy to penicillin.该患者对青霉素过敏。

17 touching   

adj.动人的，使人感伤的

参考例句：

• It was a touching sight.这是一幅动人的景象。
• His letter was touching.他的信很感人。