How to cook with edible flowers to beautify your next summer meal

By Olivia Smith

Feeling fancy? Add new flavors and pops of color to your food this summer by using edible flowers.

"Flowers are an amazing product to use whether they are to garnish or used in cooking," Chef Jeffrey Nimer, who owns Haute Chefs Los Angeles, told "GMA." "They not only make the food look pretty and pop for color, you can also taste them."

Edible flowers can be used in drinks, salads, main courses, and desserts. Nimer shared ways to spice up your dishes with marigolds, chamomile, lavender, borage blossoms and more.

Chilean sea bass with spinach, asparagus and edible flowers steeped in sauce.

"There are many different variations to flowers, so knowing what flowers are current for the season is important," he added.

Watch chef Nimer cook with chamomile and marigolds in the video above and then try the recipes below to make them yourself at home for a special and beautiful meal.

Chamomile flower panna cotta

Ingredients:
-2 cups organic heavy cream
-½ cup fresh chamomile flowers with stems and leaves removed
-½ cups sparkler top flowers
-1 cup organic whole milk
-1 ¼ ounce envelope unflavored powdered gelatin
-¼ cups organic honey, like clover or wildflower
-½ tsp vanilla extract
-Pinch of salt

Method:
Lightly grease six-ounce ramekins with a paper towel dipped in a bit of canola or rapeseed oil. Heat the cream in a saucepan set over medium heat until just barely simmering. Add the chamomile flowers and sparkler tops. Turn off the heat, and let steep for 20 minutes. Strain the cream through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean bowl and reserve.

Panna cotta with chamomile flowers.

Pour the milk into a clean saucepan and sprinkle the gelatin evenly over the top, but do not stir. Let the gelatin soften until the grains look wet and like they are beginning to dissolve for about five minutes. After the gelatin has bloomed, warm the milk and gelatin over very low heat, whisking occasionally, until the gelatin dissolves for about three to five minutes. Be careful not to let the mixture bubble or simmer, which will inhibit the gelatin’s ability to set.

Whisk in the honey, vanilla, and salt. Add the chamomile-infused cream and whisk to combine. Divide the mixture among the prepared ramekins and chill them in the refrigerator until set, at least four hours and up to overnight. If you are going to leave them overnight, cover each ramekin with plastic wrap. Top each panna cotta with some more flowers. Alternatively, serve them in their ramekins with the garnishes.

Edible flowers are added to enhance a summer salad.

Butter poached lobster with carrot nage infused with marigold flowers

Ingredients:
-1½ lb Maine Lobster (blanched and shucked)
-2-3 tbsp water
-1 cup (2 sticks) cold butter, cut into 1 tbsp pieces
-Small shallow pot or a saucepan

Method:
In a saucepan, bring two to three tablespoons of water to a simmer over medium heat. Whisk in one tablespoon butter, and when the butter melts, add another piece. Continue adding butter pieces (two sticks total.) Do not let the butter come to a boil or the butter will separate. Try to keep the butter between 160 and 175 degrees Fahrenheit. Use an instant-read thermometer to keep it under 180 Fahrenheit.

Butter poached lobster with edible flower sauce including rose petals and marigolds.

Carrot Nage:
Ingredients:
-1 cup freshly juiced carrots
-1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
-2 cups chefs' blend mixed flowers
-Olive oil
-Salt & pepper

Method:
In a saucepan, reduce the juices until you have reached the correct consistency, which should coat the back of a spoon. In a blender, mix the nage with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Strain the flowers and serve with lobster.