Both red clover and white clover are edible. Clovers are high in protein, contain trace minerals, beta carotene, plus vitamins B and C. The leaves have a grassy taste, and the flowers are sweet if picked on a sunny day.
The flowers can be made into herb teas.
They are lovely added fresh to a salad, especially potato salad.
You can freeze the blossoms in ice cubes to jazz up drinks and cocktails.
The flowers of red clover make a lovely wine.
Clover flowers (red or white) can be dusted with flour and pan fried in oil to make a crispy snack.
The leaves can be added raw to salads or cooked in soups, stews and sauces.
The seeds can be soaked and sprouted.
A gluten free flour can be made from the dried, ground up flowers and seed pods. Sprinkle this on cooked food.
Red Clover Tea
4 to 6 flowers red clover flowers
250 ml/1 cup boiling water
Infuse 10 to 15 minutes and strain. Take 3-4 cups a day, or when you are having a hot flush. You can take 5-6 weeks for acne, constipation, eczema, psoriasis, swollen glands, coughs and bronchitis.
White Clover Tea
4 to 6 flowers white clover flowers
250 ml/ 1 cup boiling water
Pour the boiling water onto the flowers. Infuse 10 to 15 minutes and strain. Drink hot, with a little honey if liked or try cooling, adding mint sprigs and ice cubes for an iced clover tea.
Red Clover Wine
2 litres/ 2 quarts red clover flowers
4.5 litres/1 gallon water
3 lemons
2 oranges
900 gm/2 lb. sugar
Yeast
Put the flowers in a brewing bin and pour over the boiling water. Add the juice of the oranges and lemons. Cool to lukewarm (20 degrees centigrade/ 68 degrees Farenheit) and add the started yeast. Ferment for 5 days, strain into demijohn and fit an airlock.
Clover Flour
Pick as many white clover flowers as you would like. Dry them thoroughly, preferably in a dehydrator. Grind them up in a coffee grinder or pestle and mortar. You will be left with a gluten free flour that tastes like peas.