How to Dry Marigold Petals

 

How to dry marigold petals aka calendula to have home dried edible plant to use in your kitchen.

 

Marigold flowers are excellent replacement for zafferano / saffron when cooking.

How to dry marigold petals?

After harvest, separate petals from flowers and lay them on paper towel. Make sure your layer is not too thick, so you avoid mold because of moisture present in calendula. You may dry your batch in dehydrator or oven, but I find both ways too risky. For me, the best is to place sheet pan with marigold petals in the shadow. Light breeze helps a lot. Altogether, it takes five up to seven days to have your marigold herbs ready to use.

Make sure to avoid sunlight. It takes beautiful colour away!

Why is Calendula called marigold?

 

The common name of pot marigold originated from the gold flowers that bloomed during the festivals of the Virgin Mary in Renaissance times (mary + gold = marigold). Ancient Greek, Roman, Arabic, and Indian cultures used calendula as a medicinal herb and as a dye for fabrics, food, and cosmetics.

How to grow marigold in a pot see here .

 

 

Which marigold is edible?

There are several edible marigold varieties, including pot marigolds (Calendula officinalis), French marigolds (Tagetes patula), African marigolds (Tagetes erecta), Mexican mint marigolds (Tagetes Lucida), and lemon marigolds (Tagetes tenuifolia).

 

Why would you dry marigolds?

Marigold was used traditionally for supporting healthy digestion and gastrointestinal function, and for supporting immune function. The dried, ground flowers are used as chicken feed as a source of carotenoids to enhance the color and nutrition of egg yolks, and as a yellow food dye in Europe.

When it comes to cooking, you can add marigold petals, minced, to your sugar to enhance the batter or dough colour but can also use instead of saffron to add to risotto, cheese spreads, sauces, curds and breads. You may also garnish your salads with some fresh or dry petals.

That way, you prepare food in budget friendly manner but still serve top quality dishes!

 

What does dried marigold taste like?

It is tasty combination of citrus and tarragon, mild way.

If you look for details on how to grow and use calendula : find details here .

 

For great marigold kitchen uses look at Sweetrlifebake .

 

Before you scroll down to see how to preserve humble marigold flowers, let me say I store them, once dried, in dark glass jar, covered with kitchen paper. That way, they keep their colour the best way possible.