Eat up your lilies

OF all the edible flowers rightly championed, I think daylilies receive too little appreciation. In both beauty and culinary pleasure, they really are hard to equal. Daylilies are not true lilies, but belong to the genus Hemerocallis—from the Greek hemera, meaning day, and kallos, meaning beauty —which hints at the flowers' fleeting nature. Typically opening at first light, each flower cheers the garden until the evening, when it fades rapidly. At first, I had trouble with the idea of robbing the garden of something so beautiful, but picking them late in the day before the decline sets in means I get to enjoy them twice: outside and in the kitchen. Happily, flowers are typically produced over a number of weeks, so you can expect more beauty to replace that which has gone.

- By Mark Diacono

When I say daylilies are underappreciated, I mean here in the UK. In their eastern Asia home, the daylily's culinary and medical properties have long been enjoyed, with dried and fresh flowers used in everything from hot and sour soups to pork dishes. I love the flowers raw or cooked: as well as casting a just-picked few into a leafy salad, try them deep-fried in tempura batter with a sweet/sour chilli dipping sauce.