Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-07-27
DELICATE FLOWERS AS FOODS.
Made Into Salads, Jellies, Curries-
Cloves and Capers
From the South China Post.

From the South China Post
Though the fact is well known that
flowers are used extensively as a medi-
cine, it may come as a surprise to many
thar tons of delicate flowers are regularly
used as food.
In many parts of India the flowers of
saponaceous tree, bassia latifolia, or NAH
wah, form a really important article of
diet. These blossoms which are succu-
lent and very nourishing and numerous
fall a night in large quantities from the
trees and are gathered early in the morn
ing and eaten raw. They have a sweet
but sickly taste and odor. They are like
wise dried in sun and sold in the baZaars
The Bheels dry them and store them as a
staple article of food.
An ardent spirit like whisky is distilled
from these flowers and is consumed in
large quantities by the natives of Gu
zerat. &c; sweetmeats are also made of
them. A single tree affords from 200 to
400 pounds of blossoms. In Malabar and
MysOre another species of the tree
abOunds. the flowers of which are used in
a similar manner by the natives.
The flowers of the Judas tree have
agreeable acrid taste and are sometimes
mixed with salads made into fritters
with batter and the flower buds are
picked with vinegar. The flowers of the
American species are used by the French
Canadians in salads and pickles. The
flowers of the abutilon esculentum are
used in Brazil as boiled vegetables The
flowers of the horseradish tree are eaten
by the natives of India in their curry.
The young calices of dillenia scaratella
and ID. speciosia which are swollen and
fleshy, have pleasantly acid taste and
are used by the inhabitants of Chittagong
and Bengal in their curries and also for
making jellies. The large, SNOWY flowers
OF the nasturtium are frequently used
along with the young leaves in salad
They have a warm taste and not unlike
that of the common cresS, and 1t is from
this similarity that the plant has gained
the name of nasturtium.
The hill people of India are fond of the
flowers of the rhododendron arboreum,
and even Anglo-Europeans use them for
making jelly Yet poisonous properties
are ascribed to the species of this genus,
and il has been said that the r. ponticum
was the plant from whose flowers the
bees of PontuS gathered the honey which
produced the extraordinary symptoms of
poisoning described as having attacked
the Greek soldiers in the famous retreat
of the Ten Thousand.
The flower clusters of the caulifower,
which form themselves into a firm cluster
or head varying from four to eight or
more inches across, become the edible
portion of one of the greatest vegetable
delcacies. In this 1t differs greatly from
all other members of the cabbage family.
whose leaves and stalks are used for Gull
nary purposes.
The flower buds of the capparis spinosa,
a plant which grows on the walls in
southern Europe, are commonly known
as caper. These are chiefly imported from
Sicily, though the plant is largely Guilt
waited in some parts of France The cloves
of commerce are the uneXpanded buds of
caryophyllus aromaticus a small ever
green, native of the Moluccas, but culti-
waited in many parts of the East and West
Indies.