Redbud flowers - almost everyone seems to like them, once they try them. They are tasty! Find your local redbud trees this summer while they have their leaves out. And then get ready for some good eating next spring! Come into my post and see how!

The Redbud trees (Cercis spp.) growing wild, out in the woods, are the same as the Redbud trees used for landscaping in neighborhoods and parks. All the Redbuds can be real food for regular people, whether you are foraging, gardening, or even simply enjoy Redbud trees in a landscape planting. Even if your neighborhood prohibits vegetable gardens in the front yard, a Redbud tree will pass approval and now you've got some free food that's easy to grow and harvest!


I'm writing about redbud trees because their flowers were part of a mini-contest I hosted last week. Three people correctly identified that I was using redbud flowers in this great meal -- @michaelmcdermott, @wholesomefoods, and @ewkaw. But anytime is a good time to find and get to know Redbud trees.

Finding Redbud Trees

Maybe you are thinking -- Hey, it's not springtime, so why are you writing about Redbud trees in July? Well, those redbud trees are still out there. If you get to know the trees in your area, you may notice them this summer, with their pretty and distinctive heart-shaped leaves. That highlights one reason why I like foraging from trees. Once you find them, they will be in that same spot for a long time!

Redbud trees do show up well in the springtime, with their pink flowers that open before many trees even start to get their leaves. But you don't have to wait to find your local Redbud trees.

Redbud trees have distinctive heart-shaped leaves. The trees don't get huge - 15-30 feet tall and about that wide - so they fit well in neighborhood yards and parks. The leaves turn bright yellow in the fall, so that's another time to notice them easily.

Harvesting Redbud Flowers

If I'm making a quick salad, I'll stop by a redbud tree and pick a few flowers. Or if I'm walking around the yard, I'll stop and eat a few flowers right off the tree. But most of the time, I want a lot of flowers! I can stand out by a tree and pull flowers off the branches. But the flowers are a lot easier to pick when the branches are pruned off the tree and cut into pieces, instead of reaching up into the tree all the time.

My neighbor's Redbud tree grows branches that hang over into my yard. I prune the branches and harvest the flowers.

Redbud trees foliage can often grow too thick and benefits from pruning. So I cut branches from my redbud trees and then pick the flowers in a comfortable place. If you are going to prune your Redbud tree, wait until the branches are in flower and get some real food as a bonus!

Sometimes I just want a few flowers, so I prune a few branches. It doesn't take long to pick all the flowers from a few branches.

Other times, I'm more interested in pruning my tree or the branches from my neighbor's tree. Then I harvest a lot of redbud flowers! That gives me plenty to preserve for later, too! Notice that there are some small leaves in that bowl, too. That's OK. They are good to eat, too!

How To Use Fresh Redbud Flowers

Just find a Redbud tree in flower, pull off the flowers, and eat them, right there on the spot. It's a simple as that! If you want to get fancier, redbuds fit right into any salads, domestic or wild, really well. I use redbud flowers in salads whenever they are in season.

But Redbud flowers are more than a salad garnish! They can be real food for regular people. Here is a sampling of how I've been enjoying them. I'll post more details about some of these meals in future posts.

Redbud flowers and eggs go together really well. Here, I used redbud flowers to top an open-faced omelet made from plants that all can take care of themselves: redbud, jerusalem artichokes, and chives.

Redbuds are a legume and go well with any beans. I have a lot of them mixed in this vegetarian black bean chili. So good, especially with that redroot pigweed amaranth in tomato sauce on the plate, too!

How about Redbud tacos? The front one is with beans, the back one is a fish taco with a redbud sauce. That salad has redbud flowers, too, with raw dandelion leaves and tangerine pieces.

I used redbud flowers in a wine sauce of elephant garlic stalks that I handle like a spring leek. I'll make a separate post with this recipe. It is amazing over grilled fish!

Redbud flowers and hop shoots are available at the same time and they go together so well! I mixed the redud flowers with cottage cheese, black olives, and cracked black pepper - and laid that on grilled hops, on top of some pasta, with grilled vegetarian field sausage on the side. This was good for two meals, it's so substantial!

Preserving Redbud Flowers

The redbud flower season is usually just a few weeks long. It can be a lot shorter, too, if there's a spring heat wave! So I like to preserve any extra redbud flowers. I dehydrate them, ferment them, and make a pretty redbud vinegar that leaves me with some pickled redbud flowers, too. I'll write more about those in future posts.

Redbud flowers hold their color so well when they are dried in a dehydrator. How do I use them? I'll let you know in a future post!

I'll be making more posts with details of how to use redbud flowers in different recipes and how to preserve them, too. In the meantime, to see how to put some of this into action, here's my video on how to harvest redbud flowers:

What Do You Think?

I hope you get a chance to eat Redbud flowers sometime! Redbud flowers are one of those foods that almost everyone seems to like, once they try them. If you do eat redbud flowers, I would sure like to read about it! I'm sure that you can make some wonderful food with those pretty flowers!

Do you eat redbud flowers?
Do you have any redbud trees growing near you?
Would you eat any of my redbud meals?
Which of my redbud meals would you like to eat?

I write about foraging because I believe that we can all have lives that are richer, more secure, more grounded, and more interesting by getting to know the plants and the land around us – in our yards, our parks, and our wilderness.

I would like Steemit to be the premier site for Foraging on the Internet! If you have any thoughts about foraging, or experiences to share, write a post and be sure to use the Foraging tag. And check out the @foraging-trail to see curated quality posts about foraging. Happy Foraging!

Plant List

Eastern Redbud Cercis canadensis
Western Redbud Cercis occidentalis

Haphazard Homestead

* foraging, gardening, nature, simple living close to the land *

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Redbud Flowers - How To Find, Harvest, and Eat Redbud Flowers