When you have a large crop of calendula from the garden or farmstand, you don't have time to casually include it in complicated recipes or to frantically figure out how to use it up before it goes bad without getting sick of it. You want to make the most of your harvest and to actually enjoy it.
Here at Plant to Plate, we like to keep things simple! Here are some of my favorite ways to use or preserve calendula:
- Add the flowers to salads. Specifically, you can use them as Decor in an Interesting Salad. (Wondering why I capitalized those letters? Read more about Interesting Salads here!)
- Use the leaves as a Base or Partial Base for an Interesting Salad.
- Add the flowers and leaves to a sauté or stirfry.
- Add the flowers to egg dishes like omelets and quiches.
- Make infused vinegar with the flowers. Calendula-infused vinegar can make a lovely, light floral salad dressing or dressing base. You can also add other herbs while infusing such as lemon balm, lemon verbena, spearmint, borage, dill, or others.
- Make a tea with the flowers and leaves. Although calendula flowers are the most common part of the plant to use for tea, the leaves also have beneficial properties.
- Make a tincture with the flowers. An herb:solvent ratio of 1:5 at 60% alcohol is suggested for a calendula flower tincture.
- Add the flowers to homemade creams, lotions, and oils to enjoy their skin-supportive properties.
- Dry it. Both flowers and leaves can be dried to preserve them for later use. See our How to Dry Your Herbs articles here for more information.
Further Reading
Growing calendula? Check out these quick facts like its best growing conditions, companion plants, and expected yields.
Calendula is also featured in these articles:
- Quick Facts: Growing Calendula
- The Interesting Salad Protocol: How to Build an Interesting Salad
- How to Preserve Your Harvest: Drying and Dehydrating