Salad with Judas Tree flowers

The beautiful flowers of the Judas Tree can also be used in the kitchen: for a few days a year it is possible to harvest the unopened buds and turn them into an original splash of colour for seasonal dishes.

Like elderflower, they can be used to prepare fritters, although they release their flavour when eaten raw. The buds can be added to any salad, although their sour and somewhat sweetish flavour goes very well with those made up of bitter-tasting country herbs such as dandelion, chicory and “brighteyes”, or more aromatic herbs such as “salad burnet” and “mediterranean hartwort”, not forgetting, of course, rapunzel.

After carefully cleaning and washing the vegetables, season them with salt and oil. Add lemon juice, which will give the dish a more special flavour, but you can also replace it with ordinary vinegar.

Add the previously washed and dried flowers only after dressing the salad, to preserve the crunchiness and all the flavour of this explosion of colour to bring to the table.