When you have a large harvest of zinnias from the garden or farmstand, you don't have time to casually include them in complicated recipes or to frantically figure out how to use them up before they go bad without getting sick of them. 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 zinnias:
- Add the whole plant to stirfry and sauté dishes. The whole plant includes not only the flowers but also the leaves, stems, roots, and any other parts of the zinnia plant.
- Add the whole plant to soups and broths.
- Use the petals as Decor in an Interesting Salad. (Wondering why I capitalized those letters? Read more about Interesting Salads here!)
- Add the petals and leaves to other salads.
- Make a tea. Zinnia tea is best prepared as an infusion.
- Add them to a tea blend. Zinnias can be added to a wide variety of infusion blends. You might pair them with other floral herbs such as chamomile, lavender, and rose petals.
- Make a tincture. An herb:solvent weight ratio of 1:5 at 40% alcohol is suggested for a zinnia flower and/or leaf tincture.
- Dry them to preserve them for later use. See our How to Dry Your Herbs articles here for more information.
Further Reading
Growing zinnias? Check out these quick facts like their best growing conditions, companion plants, and expected yields.
Zinnias are also featured in these articles: