Exotic Dining: Marigolds

Marigolds add some 'kick' to desserts and salads. Photo: SG

Just the other day, I was watching TLC when they ran a commercial for "Dining With Death", a new reality series on 'exotic dining' the channel is promoting locally. Needless to say I went a bit white about the lips at some of the things people were popping into their mouths. But the commercial got me thinking, why is it that 'exotic foods' almost always refers to the slaughtering of some kind of animal? Why should vegetarians be relegated to boring meals because their diet is less glamorous in the media's eyes? 

For some reason, this got me thinking of Mira Nair's movie "Monsoon Wedding", which featured a wedding planned fond of eating marigolds. Most Malaysian-born Indians and Asian urbanites in general may find this odd, even repulsive (though perhaps not as repulsive as chewing on a fried cricket), but the reality is that marigolds have been on the menu as long as they have been used in religious worship. As diets became more diversified, edible flowers such as the calendula marigold variety were used mainly for tea and in beauty/herbal products and less in food preparation.

Of course, this bothered me, so I set out to learn more about this unassuming flower. I discovered that one can do many interesting things with marigolds other than just make tea with it. For instance, did you know it makes a delicious jelly? Or even a custard? I sure didn't, and if you're game to impress friends with your culinary repertoire, give the following recipes a go: 

Quick Pickled Cucumbers With Marigolds

Marigold Pie

Beltane Marigold Custard

Orange-Marigold Iced Tea

Marigold Jelly

Note: Be extra careful when using edible flowers such as marigolds in food preparation; make sure they are grown organically and are pesticide-free.