[Edible plants] Edible flowers in CAMBODIA

[Sophia_Cambodia]

Cambodian people have used various ways of cooking long time ago, including eating raw plants and some of their flowers.

Caption: Jelly flowers or Siam Tulip, bloom once a year (now - edible both flowers and tube and grown in the wild only)

EDIBLE FLOWERS

Flowers have long been used in Cambodia’s cuisine and many of the flowers are native to the country. When Cambodians go for wild greens, they’re also looking for edible flowers. Others are cultivated in home gardens as for cooking. Edible flowers in Cambodia are used both raw and cooked, in everything from salads and soups to curries and desserts.

Please note:

• Some flowers are all year round,
• Some are blooming only once a year.
• Many plants give flowers in April or May and some others give flowers in rainy season between July and August.

Here in Cambodia, we commonly eat the seeds, fruit, flowers, leaves, roots, and stems of many plants, wild and domestic. Plants can be eaten and used differently such as

• Stem & shoots: bamboo shoot, cardamom
• Pods &tube: taro, lotus, ginger, potato, waterlily
• Seeds: pumpkin, sun flowers, peanut, soybean
• Leaves: many types including Slender amaranth,
• Flowers: water hyacinths,
• Vegetable-fruit, leaf, stem, and bark are used

BELOW IS THE LIST OF EDIBLE FLOWERS AND PLANTS

Big Trees

Plant Names	Nature of plants	Local Names	Parts That Are Used	What They Are Used For
Plumerias or frangipani – native to Cambodia,	plant	ចំប៉ី / Champei	Flowers	The dry flowers can be used as tea. White frangipanis that are deep-fried like tempura.
Flamingo Bill / hummingbird, Sesbania grandiflora	plant	អង្គាដី / Angkadei	flowers, young l**eaves	Used in soups, e.g. Koko soup.
Tamarind flowers:	Plant	អំពិល / Ampil or ម្ជួរ / Mju	Flowers, y**oung leaves, young fruit and ripe fruit	Used to add sour taste to soup
Neemtree flowers, neemtree or Indian lilac (Azadirachta indica), is a tree in the mahogany family Meliaceae.	Naturally grow at the paddy field, also planted at home	ស្តៅ / Sdao	Flowers, young leaves	Used as salad. The taste is bitter but very good for health so many older people really love it.
Moringa	Plant	ម្រុំ / Mrom	Leaves (s**eed for medical reason)	In soup, e.g Koko soup.

Shrub / garden plants

Plant Names	Nature of plants	Local Names	Parts That Are Used	What They Are Used For
Katuk (Saurolous andrygynus**), also known as** star gooseberry, or sweet leaf bush	Nature	ស្លឹកងប់ / Ngob	Leaves	Soups
Jasmine	plant	ម្លិះ / Ma-lis	Flowers	Dry flowers normally used mix with tea (flowers are used for religious reason, wedding ceremony)
Climbing Wattle	Plant for commericial use	ស្អំ / Sa-om	Leaves	Stir fry with egg
Ivy gourd leaves	Nature	ស្លឹកបាស / Bas leave	Leaves	Soup
Wild betel leaves	Nature	ជីកាប្លូ / Ka-plu	Leaves	Salad
Pepper / Chili		ម្ទេស / Mtes	Fruit and Leaves	Soup
Wild spider flower, Spider Flower		មមាញ / Mormeanh	Flower, Stem and Leaves	Pickle (goes well with grilled fish)
Mint		ជីអង្កាម / Ji Angkam	Leaves	Salad, Side vegetable as herbs and Cocktail
Spanish Thyme​ (Coleus amboinicus)		ជីត្រចៀកជ្រូក/ត្រចៀកដំរី / Sleuk Trojeak Jruk	Leaves	Salad & garnish
Rice paddy herb, latin: Limnophila aromatica)	naturally grow at the paddy field, or grown for commercial use	ម្អម / ma- om	Whole Stem & leaves	Used in a fish sour soup or hot pot, garnish
Asian Coriander	plant	ក្រសាំងទំហំ / Krasaing Tomhum	Leaves	it is used to eat with Ballot or mixed in salad
Saw leaf/long coriander	plant	ជីរណា / Ji Rona	Leaves	used in a salad or in a soup, garnish
Garlic chive flowers	Plant	ស្លឹកខ្ទឹម / Sleuk Khtim	Leaves	Garnish, soup
Holy basil		ម្រះព្រៅ / Mras Prov	Leaves	Hot stir fry & garnish on the soup
Fishwort - fish mint​	Plant	ជីម្លូ / Ji Mlu	Leaves	salad
**Water Spinach /**morning glory	Plant	ត្រកួន / Trokoun	Stem	Soups, stirred fried, salad, lab, papaya salad, boiled as side vegetable for many dishes, including Teuk Kreung (Asian Mackerel Vegetable Dip Sauce)
Lemongrass	Plant	ស្លឹកគ្រៃ / Sleuk Krey	Stem & Leaves	Tea (lose weight), and Ingredient in curry and uncountable dishes
Pumpkin flower	Plant	ផ្កាល្ពៅ / Lapao	Stem, flowers & y**oung leaves	Soups, sti fry, boil to be side vegetable
Fragrant pandan	Plant	ស្លឹកតើយ / Sleuk Toy	Leaves	Tea, Used in rice cooking for the aroma, Dessert, for color and aroma, Sweet, Juice & Smoothie
Noni leaves (Morinda citrifolia )	Plant	ញរ / Nhor	Leaves & Fruits (medicine)	Used in Amok​ & fruit used to soak in wine for medicine
Banana blossom: ​the banana blossom is the large purple tear-shaped bud that, if left, will form a bunch of bananas.	Plant	ត្រយ៉ូងចេក / Troyong Chek	- Flowers - Stem - Leaves	Shredded banana flower is most often eaten raw, in a salad or as side dish to Cambodian noodle. Many Cambodian dishes such as Cambodian noodle, Kho-mam, and *Teuk Kreung (Asian Mackerel Vegetable Dip Sauce)*are served with a side dish of shredded banana flower. They can used in the soup too. - Leaves used to wrap dessert and sweet
Sesbania sesben:	Nature, grow for commercial use	ផ្កាស្នោរ / phka snor	flowers	Pickle - that uses (pickled flowers).​​​ By marinating the flowers with rice water (the water that’s left after washing rice), salt and sugar for few days, you can enjoy another simple and tasty dish.
Sesbania bispinosa - a cheerful yellow flower.	Nature, grow for commercial use	ស្នោរ / snor	flower	Pickle, Side vegetable with the dried leaves being made into tea and the pods, which look like string beans also being eaten.
Marigold		ស្បៃរឿង / sbai reoung	Young leaves	Side vegetable
Aloe Vera		ប្រទាលកន្ទុយក្រពើ	Leaves	Inside flesh is used for cold body temperature drink Smoothie or dessert

From the wild

Plant Names	Nature of plants	Local Names	Parts That Are Used	What They Are Used For
Turtle’s nail	Wild​​​ (bloom one a year, Jul)	ក្រចកអណ្តើក គេយក	Young leaves	- Soup - Side vegetable for teuk kroeung - Stir fry
Curcuma, Siam Tulip “Siam Ruby” known locally as Jelly flower (Curcuma sparganifolia)	Wild (bloom one a year, Jul)	ចាហួយ ឬត្រចៀកក្រាញ់	*Flower &*Tube/Root	- Flowers boiled and used as side vegetable - Tube used as dessert “Jelly”
Cardamom		ក្រវ៉ាញ	Stem	Stir fry
Sand ginger		ប្រស់ស្វា	Young leaves	Salad
Pepper elder (peperomia pellucida)		ក្រសាំងទាប	Stem	- Salad - Stir fry - Garnish
Emblica		កន្ទួតព្រៃ​ / Kontout prey (wild star gooseberry)	Fruit	Soak in the honey and sugar, create juice that helps increase the men’s ability.

Water plants
Lotus	Nature, grown for commercial use	ឈូក	- Fruit - Pod/Stem - Tube	Stir fry Soup Snack
Water Hyacinth Flowers	naturally grow in the lake or pond	កំប្លោក	Flowers & Pod	Side vegetable in Cambodian noodle mixed with other fresh vegetables, also in Teuk Kreung (Asian Mackerel Vegetable Dip Sauce).
Water Lily	naturally grow at the pond, grow for commercial use	ដើមព្រលិត/រំចង់	Stems & Pod	Soups,​​ salad, and eat as side vegetables to various dish such as Teuk Kreung (Asian Mackerel Vegetable Dip Sauce), khmer noodle, plea,
Water Mimosa	grow in the lake naturally	កញ្ឆែត /Kanchhet	Stems	Salad, side vegetables, soup

…and the list goes on!

Many of wild plants are also used in the kitchen, I will come up with it soon

This article inspired by seniors @ErmesT @LuigiZ and @Giu_DiB… Thank you for such inspiration on this nature article.

[MAHBUB_HYDER]

Hi @Sophia_Cambodia

Thanks for sharing another great post

So detail and well written post of edible plants , all plants that you shown in your post are also very common here in Bangladesh. But I never tired to eat those plants .onlt Water lity plants we used for making vegetables with fush or beans… very delicious

Have a nice day!⚘

you may see my recent posts from here

[MukulR]

WOW! amazing photos and descriptions @Sophia_Cambodia You have used so many nice photos and I know they took a long time to take. I guess how you took preparation for such an amazing post. Lotus fruit made me confused a little first as I thought it was a dragon fruit by seeing it Most of these flowers, fruits, plants, and vegetables are also found and eaten in Bangladesh. Your photo with the water hyacinth looks great. I went to my village last month and took photos of some flowers (wild) and preparing my post on them. Thanks for sharing this nice post with us.

[Sophia_Cambodia]

@MAHBUB_HYDER @MukulR thank you my friends for the first to common since we have similar time zone and similar geographical area. I believe we have seen these often in our neighborhood. But maybe we cook them differently? I am very happy to share these with all of you, at least give you the insights of our eating habits here. Come here, this rainy season we see a lots of them!

[Sophia_Cambodia]

@MukulR you are absolutely right over this post. It took me so much time for collecting all of them together - then making a list and go for photos. English names are something to consider too. I did a lot of research and I am happy finally I did it. It gave me knowledge too!

[Sophia_Cambodia]

@MukulR luckily, whenever I cook or eat new food, I take the fancy of photographing them

[MukulR]

@Sophia_Cambodia I know very well how to make a detailed post like this one. Taking preparation with the plan inside the brain and getting the photos of the expected subject, most difficult parts. Fortunately, you have overcome all smoothly and nicely. Your great effort has made this a time and region winning post. Great. Thanks once again for sharing this nice post with us.

[Sophia_Cambodia]

@MukulR right dear, looking forward to reading your post too. I cannot post many photos in this post, just some of them to represent the plants. I almost used all my allowed space

[LuigiZ]

Hi @Sophia_Cambodia ,

wow, this is a real edible plants and Cambodian cousin encyclopedia . It is fantastic to see all this variety of plans and flowers, and also some of the dishes prepared with them, you should know very well what and how to cook, well done!

Great post, very informative for both natural and local cultural aspects.

Thank you for tagging me on it!

[Sophia_Cambodia]

@LuigiZ thank you, I am glad you found them helpful. I don’t know how to cook them all, but I have seen them being cooked by people surrounding me and used as well. Luckily, we are in tropical region so we have got so much of plants growing even without planting. Some are even served as medicines.

[DebadattaMeher]

Hi @Sophia_Cambodia every dishes you have prepared seems very new to me.I have had hardly seen these dishes in India.Except Basil’s,Lotus Fruit,Morninga,Neem and mint plant others are new to us.But Food is different from region to region.The dishes photos which you have shared are really looking very sweetest…

[Sophia_Cambodia]

@DebadattaMeher thank you dear, I’m glad they are helpful to you. We have a lot more but I need to conduct a bit more of research for the wild species.

[Sophia_Cambodia]

@SholaIB I invite you to read my post here. Been tree is included

[Sagir]

Wow… there are lots of edible flowers and plants around you @Sophia_Cambodia

I can see Moringa which we also use it for salad, soup and as tea .

Thanks for sharing this informative post with us…

Regards.

[Sophia_Cambodia]

@Sagir thank you and I believe you have other plants in common as well, right? Please take these as knowledge sharing. There are a lot more which I will update later.

[MAHBUB_HYDER]

Hi @Sophia_Cambodia

Yes I really appreciate about your detail writing! No doubt this one of the best foody post here in connect , thanks for your patience and hard working to collect so beautiful photos regarding this post , you are right my friend, we are almost same geographical areas and most of the plants are similar of our country too.

Have a nice day my friend ⚘

[Sophia_Cambodia]

@MAHBUB_HYDER thank you, very much appreciate your support and long comments. Please also share from your country too.

[Austinelewex]

Very detailed and informative post @Sophia_Cambodia

Thanks for sharing it with us here on connect.

Best regards.

[Sophia_Cambodia]

@Giu_DiB I do not know if you have seen this article but it was inspired by you so I hope you will read it sometimes. I am going to share more into this topic.

[Giu_DiB]

Hello @Sophia_Cambodia ,

Thanks for writing this very informative post and for tagging me! I am glad and happy I inspired you. I will try some of the plants and flowers you shared with us!

In case you haven’t seen it yet, you can also take a look at this interesting post with another edible plant: Luffa Gourd – Ghiraula (घिरौंला) common in Nepalese vegetable garden.