Suji, how about herb-flavored sugars with which to rim glasses of lemonade, cranberry juice or alcoholic beverages. We make lavender sugar and rose geranium sugar. There are lots of expensive sugared rimmers out there! Give a talk on making your own.

How about herbs used to make mustards? Or syrups? Or herbal martinis?

People are always amazed when I tell them what the "weeds" in their gardens and lawns can be used for. Dandelion and plantain are tops on the list for those weed-talks. My own lawn and gardens have these other "weeds" as well: burdock, stinging nettle, yellow dock, chickweed, selfheal, mugwort, motherwort, chicory, goldenrod, cleavers, ground ivy, evening primrose, etc...

All of these have medicinal actions, some are used for food as well. Search through back posts here or else where for the details on any of them.

People always find it amazing what they are trying to poison away from their lawn and gardens can be so helpful.

FataMorgana

Well, these ladies like flower-arranging, so how about using flowers in a startlingly different way - eat them!

Truly, there are so many edible flowers out there, and some are positively delicious. My personal favourite is Daylily, but you can talk about lavender buds to be used in countless culinary delights both sweet and savoury, or rose petals (serve scones with rose petal jam and cream!), crystallised violets, chive flowers in salads.....

You could serve a range of flower/herb teas - making sure to emphasise that they are all medicinal!!

Edible flowers:

Acacia, angelica, alkanet, alexanders, almond, anise, anise hyssop, apple blossom, banana, basil, bergamot, borage, burdock, calendula (marigold), chamomile, chicory, chives and garlic chives, clove pinks, clover, coriander, cowslips, crucifix orchid, dandelion, day lily, elderflower, evening primrose, fennel, forget-me-not, fuschia, gardenia, garlic, ginger, hawthorn (may), heartsease, heliotrope, Japanese honeysuckle, jasmine (J. sambac), ladyÂs smock, lawn daisy, lavender, lilac, lime blossom, loofah, lotus, lovage, marjoram, marshmallow, meadowsweet, milk thistle, mimosa, mints, mullein, musk mallow, mustard, nasturtium, orange blossom, onion, oregano, passionflower, peach blossom, primrose, primula, pumpkin, rose petals, rosella, rosemary, safflower, sage, scented geraniums leaves and flowers, Scots Thistle, snapdragon, St. JohnÂs wort, sunflower buds, salad rocket, soapwort, squash, sweet violet, sweet cicely, tansy, thyme, tulip, violet, viperÂs bugloss, wood betony, woodruff, yarrow, yucca, zucchini.

Serve these, perhaps:

Calendula Shortbread
175g flour
25g rice flour
125g butter
vanilla
calendula petals
50g castor sugar

Sift flours, add castor sugar and butter, work into a stiff dough. Add calendula petals. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead well. Cut into shapes, bake at 150°C for 15-20 minutes.

Herbal ice creams! I've got several recipes. Start with the more pedestrian mint chocolate chip, then work up to others. I can dig up links to some of my favorite recipes if you'd like, though I've listed a few in another thread.

Those herbal ice creams sound fab, leira!

Another idea, herbs are sometimes wrapped up with cheeses to change the flavor of the cheese.

And what about Thyme honey? I love that on homemade vanilla ice cream, or over steamed carrots. The bees are placed among thyme being grown for jars of herbs.

Fresh sage macerated with strawberries and sugar to make strawberry shortcake, or as a topping for angel food cake or ice cream. Bruise whole fresh sage leaves and add them to the cut up strawberries and sugar. Macerate for several hours, stirring when you remember to. Remove the sage leaves before serving. The sage adds a "certain little something" that we find absolutely delicious.