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A taste of tulips
We love to see the cupped flowers of colourful tulips in our gardens, but did you know you can eat the petals of this much loved spring bloom? Lucy Bellamy tells us more
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right, brilliant tulips are the spectacle of spring, a sure sign of home-grown treasures to come in a spectrum of jewel-like colours. From vibrant reds to crisp whites via sultry blacks and purples, tulips are a visual feast. But they are not only food for the eyes. Tulip petals can be food for the stomach and make a tasty and glamorous addition to the salad bowl. They will certainly make your salads a real talking point, adding flavour, texture and a splash of colour. Our helpful guide helps you pick the tastiest.
SCenT
Tasting broadly of peas or beans, many tulip petals have a sweet flavour like ‘Little Gem’ lettuce. Lots of tulips are fragrant and choosing a perfumed cultivar gives this sweetness a floral note. Single, early tulips are the most scented. Blushing ‘Apricot Beauty’ has a subtle, fruity fragrance, rose-scented ‘Veronique Samson’ is early and flaming orange, and ‘Princess Irene’, also orange, smells sweet. Later flowering tulips with scent include ‘City of Vancouver’, which tastes of violets; freesia fragranced parrot type ‘Orange Favourite’ and the sweetly perfumed, intensely coloured ‘Couleur Cardinal’.
MAKING A SALAD
Experiment with the tulips you have growing, combining textures and colours as well as flavours. We love ‘Spring Green’ or ‘Pax’ tulips with rocket, pea tips, feta cheese and mint. Also, thinly sliced green and yellow courgettes with yellow ‘Sapporo’ tulip petals, sorrel leaves and lemon zest drizzled in olive oil and lemon juice. For a sultry option, try ‘Rococo’, torn into red peppers, roasted squash and pecorino.
Lucy Bellamy is a full time horticulturalist having studied at the Chelsea Physic Garden. Last year she used another talent and passion for cooking by entering the BBC Great British Bake Off programme.
Scent is a brilliant indicator of taste. Poking your nose into the tulips you have growing will tell you if they’re likely to be tasty.
TexTure
Nobody likes chewy salad. Choose petals that are brittle and snap crisply like a leaf of iceberg lettuce. Larger petals with a stiffer texture have more crunch. ‘Menton’ is a single, early tulip with blooms the size of a goose egg in soft pink. It breaks with a snap when eaten and has a spicy kick similar to mizuna or rocket. Lily flowered ‘Ballerina’ is crisp and scented too. Double or peony types, which look fantastic, can be chopped or torn before eating.
Colour
Everything tulips bring to the border they also bring to the salad bowl. Cool and ethereal or deep and dramatic, they turn any bowl of simple leaves into a show-stopping lunch. Tulip petal colour affects flavour. Red tulips are the sweetest; think ‘Red Hat’ or ‘Roulette’, which have honey notes. The deeper purples and near-blacks will give your tastebuds an initial tang followed by the sweetness of a Romaine lettuce – try nibbling ‘Queen of the Night’ or ‘Paul Scherer’ (AGM). White ‘Pax’ and ‘Purrisima’ have a hot, peppery kick, like rocket. Yellow tulips ‘Monte Carlo’ (AGM) and ‘West Point’ have a ‘green’ taste like broccoli and the bitterness of chicory – delicious with toasted hazelnuts, pancetta and soft cheese. ■