A review on nutritional, bioactive, toxicological properties and preservation of edible flowers

Flowers that can be consumed by human being safely are known as edible flower (EF). In the fast and nutritive food thrive scenario; flowers breaking all the odds out to put their picture as the food grade material with their rich nutritive value. However, there is a strong aspiration for scientific evidences to justify positive impact of EF on health through superior nutritional and bioactive attributes. This review summarizes the outcome of various studies performed until now on edible flowers, focusing on nutritional, bioactive, preservation and toxicological properties and health effects. This article also provides valuable information through systematic compilation and interpretation of published data on edible flowers in order to increase their popularization among the food industry and consumers. Analysis of previously published outcomes revealed that the nutritional and bioactive attributes makes the EF as complete form of nutrition available for mankind and need further exploration for value added product development, without neglecting the identification and documentation of potential toxicological elements for safe and desirable application for future expansion of EF in to value added products.