The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1905-08-25
DELICATE FLOWERS AS FOODS.
Made Into Salads, JeIIies, curries-
Cloves and Capers.

NlOvSS anu NdpSTS.
Though the fact is well known that
flowers are used extensively as medi-
cine, it may come as surprise to
many that tons of delicate flowers are
regularly used as food, says the South
China Post.
In many parts of India the flowers
of a saponaceous tree, Bassia lati-
folia, or mahwah, form really i'm
portant article of diet. These bios
SONS. which are succulent and very
nourishing and numerous, fall at
night in large quantities from the
trees and are gathered early in the
morning and eaten raw. They have
sweet, but sickly taste and odor.
They are likewise dried in sun and
sold in the bazaars. The Bheets dry
them and store them as staple artt-
Gle of food.
An ardent spirit like whisky is dis
titled from these flowers and is con-
sumed in large quantities by the ma
tives Of Guzerat, etc.; sweetmeats are
also made of them. A single tree at
fords from two to four hundred
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 ma
tives.
The flowers of the Judas tree have
an agreeable acrid taste and are
sometimes mixed with salads or
made into fritters with batter, and
the flower buds are picked with vine
gar. The flowers of the American
species are used by the French Ca
nadians in salads and pickles. The
flowers of the Ambition esculentum
are used in Brazil as boiled vege-
tables. The flowers of the horserad-
ish tree are eaten by the natives Of
India in their curry.
The young caices of Dillenia scara-
bella and d. speciosia, which are
swollen and fleshy, have pleasant
ly acid taste, and are used by the in
habitants 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 warm taste, not unlike
that of the common cress, and it 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 pois-
onous properties are ascribed to the
species of this genus, and it has been
said that the r. ponticum was the
plant from whose flowers the bees
of Pontus gathered the honey which
produced the extraordinary symp-
toms of poisoning described as hav-
ing attacked the Greek soldiers in the
famous retreat of the Ten Thousand.
The flower clusters of the cauli-
flower, which form themselves into
firm cluster or head, varying from
four to eight or more inches across,
become the edible portion of one OF
the greatest of vegetable delicacies.
In this it differs greatly from all 9th
whose leaves and stalks are used for
culinary purposes.
The flower buds of the Capparis
spinosa, a plant which grows on the
wallis in southern Europe, are COM
monty known as caper. These are
chieny imported from Cicily, though
the plant is largely cultivated in
some parts of France The cloves Of
commerce are the unexpanded buds
of Caryophyllus aromaticus. small
evergreen, native of the Moluccas.
but cultivated in many parts of the
East aud West Indies.