Wash the edible flowers in a tub or bowl of cool water.

Remove petals from flowers with your fingers by gently pulling them. Use petals to garnish like the Calendula here on top of soup.

When stuffing flowers, place one in a bud vase. Open the blossom up with one hand and gently stuff with the other using a teaspoon. Cut the stem of the stuffed flower.

Flowers are delicate and their texture is thin and supple. So always cook them in a pan coated with a DuPont non-stick surface, especially when sautéing or stir-frying.
*pan courtesy of Kitchen Aid™.

Once the flowers are cooked they may lose their brilliance, so garnish your finished plate with a fresh, new bloom as we did here with this plate of Marigold Beignets and Marigold Ice Cream.