Can You Eat Jasmine Flowers? A Guide to Consuming Jasmine Flowers
Have you ever caught the sweet scent of jasmine flowers on a summer evening and wondered if they taste as sweet as they smell? Actually, come to think of it, is jasmine flower even edible?
ANSWER – There is only ONE type of jasmine flower that is edible – the jasmine sambac. Other species of jasmine are known to be toxic, so you should proceed with caution if you decide to pop a jasmine flower into your mouth.
About Jasmine Sambac – the Edible Flower
The Jasmine Sambac is a shrub that is native to Bhutan and India. Due to its aggressive growing habits, it is listed as an invasive species of plant in the North US and parts of South America.
Like most other jasmine flowers, they have a strong intoxicating fragrance that can stop people mid-walking as they pass the flowers. They are a delicate white flower with a daisy yellow center that releases that all too familiar scent.
What does Jasmine Sambac taste like?
One would think that for a flower that releases such an alluring fragrance, the taste would be intensely sweet taste on the palate. Unfortunately, this couldn’t be further from the truth for the Jasmine Sambac. In fact, even though it is known to be edible flowers, fresh Jasmine Sambac has a bitter taste – completely contradictory to the sweet smell it is so well known for.
They are best used as a garnish in green salads or as a feature flower to contrast against the decadent dark chocolate glaze on a cake.
True Jasmine Tea – the Safest Way to Consume Jasmine
By far, the safest way to consume jasmine flowers is in tea. This way you can diffuse the beautiful jasmine fragrance into your tea, while avoiding the bitter taste of the flowers’ flesh.
How to Make Jasmine Tea From Fresh Flowers
There are plenty of premade teas infused with jasmine flowers available in your local supermarket. However, as we always do in our Garden Bench Top community, we love getting our hands dirty and journeying down the DIY path.
Actually, it is relatively simple to create your own homemade jasmine flower tea. Follow these steps:
- choose your favorite green and black tea and find a large glass jar with a wide opening (a wide mouth aids in arranging the ingredients)
- place a layer of tea leaves on the bottom of the glass jar (approximately half in inch in thickness)
- cover the tea with a layer of fully formed jasmine flowers (they need to have bloomed completely)
- repeat steps two and three until you have no more flowers
- weight the tea and flower mixture down with a weight, so the jasmine fragrance can infuse with your tea
- put aside in a dark and cool place for one week
- your tea will be ready once the infusion process has completed
Store you homemade jasmine tea in an airtight container. You can leave the jasmine flowers mixed in with your tea, and steep them when you want to enjoy some fragrant flower jasmine tea.
Benefits of Jasmine Tea
Apart from the delicious taste, there are many other benefits of drinking jasmine tea. Let’s take a closer look at these benefits.
Great for the Heart
Jasmine tea is known to have heart-assisting properties, which are highly beneficial for the body’s cardiovascular functions. According to healthline.com, jasmine helps to prevent the formation of clots in your blood system through its active anti-coagulant properties.
High in Antioxidants
There is a compound in jasmine tea known as polyphenols that gives it its high antioxidant properties. It is the polyphenols that help the body attack foreign bodies and protect the cells from damage.
When you combine this with the anti-oxidant properties of green tea, you have one powerful health healing elixir.
As Good as a Toothbrush?
Okay, so maybe not as good as a toothbrush, but jasmine tea does have some benefits for your oral hygiene. Jasmine tea has Catechins, which is another type of polyphenol that helps protect your teeth against decay.
Improves Concentration and Mental Stamina
Like coffee, jasmine tea contains caffeine which, as we know all too well, runs the world. In fact, do you think we would be as productive a species as we are without caffeine?
The average cup of jasmine tea contains 25 mg of caffeine which is more than enough to get you buzzing with plenty of brain activity, ready to tackle today’s to-do list.
Enjoying a cup of jasmine tea while you study is perfect for that hit of caffeine for mental stamina. It also helps to calm the stress levels, allowing you to focus and smash out your work.
Jasmine Oil Benefits and Uses
Jasmine doesn’t always have to be eaten or consumed as a hot beverage.
You can also derive many benefits from jasmine oil, or more specifically with jasmine essential oil.
Simply add a few drops of pure jasmine essential oil into a diffuser, close your eyes and imagine you are walking through a botanical garden with the jasmine ambient odor dancing in the air.
Jasmine oil is also known to be quite a popular home aromatherapy treatment. Many people use pure oils extracted from the jasmine flower to treat depression and daily alertness.
Frequently Asked Questions
In this section we attempt to answer all your ‘other’ questions that may not be addressed above.
If you can’t find an answer to your question, please send us a message via our CONTACT page. We will endeavor to respond with a timely answer, and include it in our growing FAQ section below.
What Jasmine Flower is Toxic?
There are a few jasmine flowers and plants that are known to be toxic. The Day Blooming Jasmine (Certrum diurnum) is known to house glycoside and hepatoxins, which can have a detrimental impact on your liver if consumed.
Can you Drink Jasmine Tea While Pregnant?
Drinking jasmine tea while pregnant is like drinking coffee. Both have caffeine. Only the caffeine content for jasmine tea is less than that of coffee. Both beverages should be consumed in extreme moderation (one per day), if at all. Those wanting a caffeine free pregnancy should avoid drinking jasmine tea, and choose a caffeine-free alternative like rooibos tea.