Spring beauty’s tiny flower is a perfect edible garnish for a salad or fish dish. Gather only a few flowers per stand to preserve future harvests.
Claytonia species
EDIBLE flowers, leaves. stems
This tiny woodland wildflower pops up in early spring from beneath last season’s leaf litter. The tender succulent plant has leaves with a fresh citrus flavor. It is a nice addition to a foraged spring salad or pretty garnish for a main dish.
Spring beauty is a small perennial plant that grows 3 to 6 inches in height. It has a tender, fleshy, succulent stem, with long, lance-shaped leaves that are green and smooth. Its flowers are white, with five pink-striped petals. The root system of spring beauty grows 2 to 3 inches beneath the soil and connects multiple plants.
Spring beauty’s tiny flower is a perfect edible garnish for a salad or fish dish. Gather only a few flowers per stand to preserve future harvests.
Spring beauty pushes up through the leaf litter of hardwood forests in early spring, alongside the trout lily, wild leek, mayapple, and morels. Look for it in areas of rich, well-drained soil, and in areas of partial sun. It grows across the Midwest; however, it may be more prolific in some areas than others, so harvest with this in mind.
To preserve future harvests of spring beauty, gather only a few leaves and flower stalks from each plant stand. While the root is edible, you would need a lot of them to make a serving worthwhile, and this could put a strain on existing stands. Cook immediately as the plant has little shelf life in the refrigerator.
Spring beauty lives up to its name in both appearance and in flavor. Nibble on a bit of the plant and you will find it slightly succulent and juicy, and somewhat fragrant with a sweet, lemony, green flavor. Because of its tiny size, spring beauty should be prepared with other foraged greens or vegetables. Its flower makes for a lovely garnish on spring salads of foraged greens. It can also withstand cooking and can be added to a frittata, a fritter of spring blossoms and greens (think locust blossom), or to top a chilled spring soup (again, think about using it with a chilled locust blossom soup). Use the pretty blossoms to garnish main dishes of fish (beautiful on the Easter or Passover table), lamb with mint sauce, or spring chicken.
While the entire plant is edible, the only sustainable way to forage for spring beauty is to clip the aerial parts of the plant—the leaves, stems, and flowers—leaving the roots so the plant’s stand may exist the following year.