What's in season: Culinary flowers at Cabbage Hill Farm

Clockwise from top: Harvesting flowers at Cabbage Hill Farm; snapdragons; ; passion flower tea. edible culinary flowers by Eilieen Zidi (AMY SOWDER PHOTOS)

By AMY SOWDER

Three wide-brimmed hats bobbed atop the sea of tall flowers one sunny, 84-degree morning at The Farm at Cabbage Hill in Mount Kisco.

The farmers harvested snapdragons and other flowers to arrange in bouquets, but also for culinary purposes.

“They’re great for tomato salad, cocktails, and at the markets, all our mesclun mixes have a few edible flowers,” said Anne Kupferberg, a year-round farmer at Cabbage Hill for 18 years.

Cabbage Hill farmers sell their produce, culinary flowers, decorative flowers, and other farm products on the second Saturday of the month at the North Salem Farmers Market and every Saturday at the John Jay Homestead Farmers Market, held in downtown Katonah behind Coldwell Banker Realty this summer during the homestead’s restoration work.

The edible flower pack goes for $6 at store.cabbagehill.org too, and includes a mix of flowers of different flavors, depending on availability: spicy nasturtium, pansies (a type of viola), sometimes snapdragons, marigolds, and more.

“As I make bouquets, any petals or buds that fall off go in the salads. Snapdragons taste really mild. Here, try one,” Eileen Zidi, another year-round farmer, said as she snaps off a bud and hands it over. (Yes, they have a mild, vegetal flavor.)

Sara Obata is working at Cabbage Hill as a full-time seasonal farmer, and loves how much better local produce tastes.

“With fresh produce, a lot of the flavor gets lost in the shipping time, and they add stuff to preserve it,” Obata said. “It tastes so good when there’s such a short time between harvest and when it gets into people’s hands.”

The nonprofit farm is dedicated to sustainable, chemical-free agriculture, growing fresh produce and vibrant flowers year-round, plus raising heritage breeds for meat, wool, and eggs. The farm offers collective memberships including family-day events, monthly chef boxes, a picnic pop-up restaurant, monthly meat share, and other events.

Besides the markets and online shop, some local eateries offer Cabbage Hill’s culinary flowers. LMNOP Bakery in Katonah often decorates with Cabbage Hill’s farm flowers in their baked goods. 

“If you see a flower on their desserts, it’s probably ours,” Kupferberg said as she strode into the greenhouse, where most of the edible flowers thrived in the shade with the breeze from fans. Kupferberg lifted her hand up to a flowering vine climbing up and around the greenhouse piping overhead. Popping from amid the green leaves are the most striking of culinary flowers: the passionflower (Passiflora incarnata). 

This intricate, purple and white flower native to the southeastern U.S. and Central and South Americas was traditionally used as a sedative. Sixteenth-century Spanish explorers in South America found and brought the flower back to Europe, where it became widely cultivated and used in European folk medicine.

“This vine has been here 18 years,” Kupferberg said, snapping off one exuberant flower and handing it over. Up close, the scent is reminiscent of Hawaiian fruit punch. “I found it as a sapling at a North Salem nursery. We dry it for tea and decorate cakes with it. On the vine, it opens only once, for a day, and then closes.” They decorate cakes with passionflowers, and they dry it and sell passionflower tea.

Kupferberg said she feels such a sense of satisfaction when customers remark on the flavor and freshness of the local food they cultivate.

“It all comes around,” she said, as she wiped her brow under the unrelenting sun, “when our customers appreciate what we do and taste the difference.”

The Farm at Cabbage Hill is located at 205 Crow Hill Road, Mount Kisco.