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Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts

Monday, April 22, 2013

Nine tulip flavors for salads & appetizers from Charlottesville's organic tulips

Tulips of different flavors offer different tastes, which gives aspiring appetizer-artists and salad-creators a number of options. Before buying tulips, it may help to know which flavors offer which colors, so here Charlottesville's Nutrition Examiner presents a list of nine flower-flavors for Charlottesville's explorative organic eaters.
 
Some thoughts before consuming petals: EcoTulips Vice President Keriann S. Koeman recommends thorough washing to remove pollen, which will give a strong peppery taste that burns the back of the throat. She implores consumers to avoid non-organic tulips for consumption: the powerful pesticides used on normally non-food flowers may be harmful to human health.

Nutritively, there's little information on the value of these petals, but certain colors in vegetation often indicate the presence of certain nutrients, says Koeman. The red and orange, for example, usually indicates the presence of beta-carotene, a substance that helps vitamin A improve skin, eye, and immune system health. While there aren't many documented tulip consumption allergies, data mined from dictionaries and encyclopedias indicates that some people do have dermatitis reactions in response to petal consumption. Animals who have eaten the bulb and the petals have died because of the anti-nutritives in the bulb, so it's important to look at preparation warnings before bulb consumption; Examiner.com offers several tulip cooking ideas.

Without further ado, click to discover nine tulip petal flavors, or visit an organic tulip festival to try other varieties in person.

http://www.examiner.com/list/ten-tulip-flavors-for-salads-appetizers-from-charlottesville-s-organic-tulips

5 ways for Charlottesvillians to eat organic tulips

Keriann S. Koeman started Charlottesville's local EcoTulips with her Dutch husband in 2009 with an emphasis on pesticide-free, farmer-friendly tulip growth. Like Charlottesville itself, the company's success grew out of international influence, and influence from local farming backgrounds.

Now, EcoTulips sells tulips at $1 per stem during picking season, and online for a bit more for the rest of the year. The company recently branched out to sell USDA-certified Dahlias, and they run a partnership program for schools, churches, and nonprofits interested in using tulips for fundraising.

While most customers arrive to the field to see and maybe smell the flowers, Koeman offered several tips for taste. Nearly--nearly is the key word here--all the parts of a tulip are edible and like lettuce or other greens, relatively healthy.

Read on for five edible tulip tips.
http://www.examiner.com/list/5-ways-for-charlottesvillians-to-eat-organic-tulips-yes-tulips