Fuchsia
~ Fuchsia ~ The Beautiful Flower You Can Eat ~
Fuchsia is usually thought of as a garden ornamental, prized for its dangling, jewel-colored flowers. But fuchsias aren't just beautiful.
There are around 100 species of Fuchsia, most originating in Central and South America, and they range from small shrubs to trees. Their pendulous flowers come in varied combinations of pink, red, purple and white, with long stamens hanging beneath them like tiny ballerinas.
The flowers are edible, and the berries are edible too. And here in Aotearoa, we have our native tree fuchsia, kōtukutuku (Fuchsia excorticata), the largest fuchsia in the world.
Fuchsia flowers have a delicate, slightly sweet flavor, sometimes with a faintly acidic or peppery note. They make beautiful edible decorations and can be used much like other edible flowers.
Try them:
~ scattered over cakes and desserts
~ frozen into ice cubes
~ candied
~ added to salads
~ used to decorate drinks
~ scattered over fruit or puddings
Because they are so striking, you don't need many. A handful of flowers can turn a very simple dish into something quite extraordinary.
The flowers eventually give way to elongated berries, and this is where fuchsia becomes particularly interesting.
Although many gardeners never think of eating them, fuchsia berries are edible. Their flavor varies considerably between species and cultivars. Some are bland, while others can be surprisingly delicious, with a juicy texture and flavors that have been compared to blueberries, grapes, citrus and even black pepper.
The berries can be eaten fresh or made into jams, jellies, puddings and other preserves. Historical accounts also describe them being used in cakes and even fermented into drinks.
Our native tree fuchsia, kōtukutuku, is quite unlike the small fuchsias commonly grown in gardens. It can grow into a substantial tree, reaching around 12 metres tall, with a trunk more than a metre across. It is also one of Aotearoa's few truly deciduous native trees.
Its flowers appear from late winter into spring, changing from greenish-yellow to purple-red as they mature. They are rich in nectar and particularly important to nectar-feeding birds such as tūī, bellbirds and silvereyes.
The berries are known as kōnini and were traditionally gathered and eaten by Māori. Some people compare the flavour of kōnini to tamarillo, while others find them more reminiscent of berries or grapes, which is my experience.
Fuchsia also has a history of medicinal use, particularly in South America.
For Fuchsia magellanica, traditional Chilean medicine records the use of the bark, leaves and fruit as diuretics, while leaves and flowers were prepared as infusions or decoctions for menstrual complaints. Preparations from the leaves and bark were also described as refreshing and fever reducing.
Our native kōtukutuku has been used in preparations involving the leaves, as well as baths and other external applications.
Kōtukutuku flowers are associated with the changing seasons. Their flowering is used as a seasonal indicator, helping signal the approach of spring and the time for certain gardening activities.
There is another curious feature of kōtukutuku that I love: The flowers produce blue pollen!
The genus was named after Leonhart Fuchs, a sixteenth-century German physician and herbalist. The French botanist Charles Plumier named the genus Fuchsia in his honor.
Fuchs was an important figure in Renaissance herbalism, and his beautifully illustrated botanical book *De Historia Stirpium* helped establish the tradition of accurately depicting plants.
Fuchsia flowers are rich in nectar and are important food plants for birds and pollinators. In South America, hummingbirds are major pollinators of many fuchsia species, while here in Aotearoa our native kōtukutuku provides nectar for tūī, bellbirds and silvereyes.
Once the flowers fade, the berries provide another food source, making fuchsia a particularly generous garden plant for wildlife.
If you'd like to discover more edible flowers and learn how to confidently identify, harvest and use the wild plants growing around you, my online Foraging Course includes a whole section on edible flowers, along with lessons on identifying and using wild edible plants throughout the seasons.