Coriander Blossom - Cooking

The coriander blossom has a milder aromatic lemony flavour of the leaves.

Coriander flowers should always be used fresh, never dried.

• Keep recipes simple to avoid overwhelming the delicate floral flavours with strong spices.
• Pick you flowers in the morning when their water content is highest.
• Clean them carefully by shaking them out as they may contain small insects in their folds. Remove the stamen (especially when you are cooking with banana flowers as the stamen tends to bitter the dish), and wash under a jet of water or in a strainer.
• Drain dry on absorbent paper. DO NOT expose to direct sunlight if you want them fresh.

The blossoms make interesting accompaniments to ingredients such as avocado, carrots, zucchini, tomato, coconut milk, citrus, ginger, mint, lemongrass, chilli peppers, kaffir lime, yogurt, chicken, lamb and white fish. Use as a garnish on zucchini soup.