Pickled daylily flower buds

In this article, you’ll find out how to make pickled daylily flower buds — an explosion of delicious flavors and colors! 

 

First, a daylily warning

Not every plant with the name “lily” is edible. For instance, lily of the valley (Convallaria majalis) can be deadly. Consuming Asiatic lilies can make you very sick. Got it? 

However, the flowers, flower buds, young shoots, and tubers of daylilies (Hemerocallis) are generally safe for human consumption with proper preparation and precaution. Even then, an additional word of caution is warranted… There are now over 100,000 daylily cultivars with new ones developed yearly, so it’s impossible to make sweeping generalizations as to the edibility of them all.

Hemerocallis fulva — the common orange daylily you often see blooming in ditches in the spring and early summer — is edible, as are its close relatives. So for the sake of this article, this is the plant we’re referring to when we say daylilies.

Even then, for every food, there is a person who is allergic to that food. Thus, exercise caution and consider preparation methods when eating daylilies for the first time. For instance, I find daylily flowers and flower buds slightly irritate my throat IF I eat them raw. However, once cooked, fermented, or pickled, I’m good to go. 

How to make daylily bud fridge pickles

This is a super simple recipe for making uncooked, pickled daylily flower buds. They need to be stored in your fridge and eaten within a month or so, not stored at room temp. 

Here are the key details to get this recipe right:

1. Use the correct plant. 

It bears repeating: make 100% certain you are using daylily flower buds, not any other type of plant with the word “lily” in its name. See warnings above! 

2. Use firm fresh flower buds.

The perfect daylily bud will be firm to the touch and snap right off the plant when you twist and/or pull down on it where the flower stem attaches to the stalk. No garden pruners required! 

3. Use the garden-fresh flavorings of your choice.   

Add some fresh herbs to your pickled daylily buds for extra nuance. Some options to consider:

• bronze fennel flowers
• dill
• green coriander
• mint
• basil

4. Use the right ingredient ratios. 

• Vinegar & water – Use a 1:1 ratio of white vinegar to water.
• Salt – For every cup of liquid, you can use anywhere from 1/4 tsp to 1 tsp salt, depending on your tastes. We err on the higher side of this salt range since we like a salty pickle. 
• Sweet – We use honey instead of sugar in our pickled daylily buds, about 1 tablespoon per cup of liquid. You can use sugar if you’d prefer.  

Measuring tip: Need a simple way to measure how much vinegar and water you’ll use? Pour water over your jar of daylily buds until its full. Then pour the water off into a measuring cup. That’s your total liquid. 

From here, you’ll simply pour off half the water and replace it with an equal part of white vinegar. Then whisk in your salt and honey. Boom! Brine made.  

5. Use a weight to hold the flower buds below the surface of the liquid. 

Daylily flower buds will try to float until they’re saturated. So place a glass fermentation weight or other kitchen implement on top of the daylily flower buds to hold them below the level of the liquid in the jar. 

Don’t use anything made of plastic or it will leach into your food. 

6. Wait 24 hours before eating.  

Pickled daylily flower buds are best eaten after about 24 hours. It takes a bit of time for the brine and flavors to work their way through all the inner layers of the unopened flower. 

You can store your pickled daylilies in the fridge for a month or more, but they’re best eaten within the first week for ideal texture. 

Recipe: Pickled daylily flower buds

Drop us a comment and rating below to let us know if you enjoy your pickled daylily buds!

KIGI,

Other edible flower articles you’ll love:

• Incredible edible flower guide
• Mimosa flower ice cream
• Recipe: Honeysuckle ice cream
• Rose flower vinegar
• Rose flower sweet & sparkling cordial
• How to use wisteria flowers
• Hibiscus sabdariffa: the edible hibiscus