Edible Flowers as Emerging Horticultural Products: From Production to Sensory Properties, Bioactivities, Safety, Applications, Health Benefits, and Consumer Acceptance

Edible flowers are increasingly recognized as high-value horticultural products with potential applications in fresh foods, functional foods, and other value-added products. However, their wider utilization is constrained by inconsistent product quality, rapid postharvest deterioration, food safety concerns, and a lack of standardized production and quality-control practices. Previous reports have largely focused on nutritional composition, phytochemicals, sensory properties, and biological activities, whereas the connections between horticultural production, quality formation, safety, and utilization remain insufficiently integrated. In this context, this review evaluated edible flowers across the production-to-utilization continuum, with particular attention paid to how cultivation systems and environmental conditions shape phytochemical and sensory quality, biological properties, postharvest performance, safety, and consumer acceptance. In particular, greenhouse cultivation, hydroponics, and plant factories with artificial lighting are evaluated in relation to the effects of light, temperature, and mineral nutrition on flower yield and quality. Remarkably, substantial variation among species and cultivars, as well as across production and processing conditions, remains a major challenge to cross-study comparison and product standardization. Collectively, the evidence indicated that the quality, functionality, and safety of edible flowers are not independent attributes, but emergent outcomes of interactions among species, cultivation environment, postharvest handling, and processing. By integrating these factors across the production-to-utilization continuum, this review provides a framework for understanding the sources of product variability and for developing edible flowers from niche horticultural commodities toward more standardized, consistently characterized, and potentially commercially viable products.