For many people, edible flowers represent a high-end, culinary restaurant experience. Adding flowers to food and speciality cocktails usually falls into the hands of chefs and mixologists. That is, until now! After nearly a year since beginning the edible flower program, Vertical Harvest is offering edible flowers and cocktail kits for customers to enjoy and experience in the comfort of your own home.
I’ve been dreaming up this idea for awhile. It’s been a really fun program to grow.
Hannah Bouline, farm and project management lead at Vertical Harvest
Farm Lead and Project Management Lead at Vertical Harvest, Hannah Bouline and the Vertical Harvest team have been working hard all summer growing tomatoes, lettuce heads, pea shoots, a variety of micro-green blends and now, edible flowers. The greens and flowers are sold in a three ounce package for $12 and contain a variety of flavor profiles and textures. Bouline compares it to a bitters kit with savory, spicy, sweet, floral, and bitter flavors along with vibrant colors and different textures.
The micro-greens grown, like Red Vein sorrel, have a lemon citrus flavor, the Tangerine Crest produces a tangerine and floral flavor, the nasturtium leaf has a peppery, spicy bite, and the marigold greens have an earthy and minty flavor profile. As for the edible flowers, not only do they add vibrant colors of yellow, orange, red, blue, and greens, creating a beautiful visual experience, but there are also varieties like the blue borage flower that produces a mild cucumber flavor.
It’s like vegetable confetti.
Hannah Bouline
Vertical Harvest is currently producing three varieties of edible flowers, with the production of 10 more beginning in September and October. The flowers are grown in hanging basket towers and each basket produces roughly 100 flowers a week. Currently, the greenhouse has three towers, harvesting around 300 flowers a week and Bouline hopes to soon have as many as 15 towers to increase production and variety.
I just tried to hit all the basic cocktail flavors. Floral, savory, spicy, like a margarita. I focused on the flowers as a garnish and as ingredients because microgreens are so flavorful. You can have little floating leaves in your drink or they are definitely something that could be muddled as well.
Hannah Bouline
According to Bouline, the shelf life of the cocktail kits vary. While flowers will last about a week, the larger greens can last up to 10 days and depending on how you choose to use the kit, mainly as garnish or for muddling and more flavor profile purposes, you can create between 10 and 40 cocktails to share with your family and friends in the comfort of your own home. If you’re looking for ideas, stop by any of these local restaurants and sample menu items using the edible flowers and Vertical Harvest greens: Amangani, Old Yellowstone Garage located inside the Caldera House in Teton Village, Coelette, Persephone West Bank and The Kitchen.
And for the first time ever, Vertical Harvest is proud to join the farmers market community and share their products with more customers. You can find them at the Jackson Hole Farmers Market, every Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon through September, and the Jackson Hole People’s Market, every Wednesday from 4 to 7 p.m. Don’t forget you can order online for curbside pickup and delivery or call (307) 201-4452 with any questions or special order requests.
