Thanks to Bake Off and the Instagram generation, bags of marigolds and nasturtiums are clogging up the chiller cabinet. Can’t we just leave these floral garnishes in the garden?
One recent Saturday morning, I lay in bed late, as is my wont, reading the paper. On the front page was a story about struggling British households, which face the worst squeeze on living standards since the 1970s: the result, mostly, of stagnant wage growth and rising prices. People are reining in their spending, the economy is weakening, and there are likely harder times ahead. On page three, however, the mood was a bit different, the headline shouting the arrival of edible flowers in British supermarkets – yours for £3 a punnet. The salad buyer at Waitrose, Tom Moore, talked of the appeal of such blooms for the “Instagram generation”, while his rival at Sainsbury’s, Vanessa Rider, described the way its new stocks of marigold, viola and monkey flower would enable customers to add, in the manner of lipstick to a tired face, “instant summer glamour” to their bowls of green stuff.
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Isn’t the thing to waft into your garden or on to your balcony and gather a few choice buds yourself? I think it is
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