How To Make Red Clover Flower Flour

Red clover flower flour is easy to make, all you need to do is forage (or grow) some clover and pound it into tiny bits. You can mix red and white clover together to make this survival flour substitute, as well.

To make red clover flour you must grind up the flowerheads – and leaves if you would like, and then store in an airtight container until ready to use. It is just that simple, folks. Now, this red clover survival flour is not exactly a true flour, but it can be used as a substitute for part of traditional flour in a recipe to stretch your stockpiled flour further.

The red clover blossoms add a nice bit of sweetness to any recipe, especially the red ones, making them superb additives to any muffin, cake, cookie or winter time recipe.

While the leaves and stems are fine to leave attached to the flowerhead when making this foraged flour, their taste can be a lot stronger than the flower portion of the plant – and a bit overwhelming for some.

Red Clover Flower Flour

Instructions

  • First you must forage, clean, and then dry the red clover and – or white clover you will be using in the flour substitute project.
    Forage red clover flour and dry them before grinding into a flour substitute. Fresh clover flowerheads have been used to make flour, but it does not store well… at all. If it is a sunny and warm day, you can just lay the red clover flowerheads out on a rack with a screen over top of them to try in only a few hours.
    You can also dry the clover flowerheads in an electric dehydrator on the herb setting for approximately four hours.
    If neither sun drying or an electric dehydrator are an option, place the clover flowerheads onto a baking cooling rack on the kitchen counter and allow them to air dry indoors overnight to 24 hours – depending upon the interior temperature and humidity.
    Freshly-picked red clover air drying
  • Pound the clover flour heads into a flour-like consistency using a mortar and pestle, blender, or food processor. Doing this by hand is not difficult, but it is a LOT more time consuming.
    red clover with mortar and pestle
  • Be very careful when using your fingers to remove the red clover flour from a blender. I have poked my fingers with the sharp blades more times than I care to count trying to get every last bit scooped out.
    red clover blended in blender

This is what the finished flour looks like:

red clover flour

Store the red clover flour in an airtight container until ready to use. In my experience, when the clover has been properly washed, dried, and stored it will be good for up to five years. Always store out of direct sunlight in a cool and dry place.

Red clover or a mixture of red and white clover flour does not meld ingredients in baked goods together as well as a traditional flour. This is why the foraged survival flour is primarily used as a substitute, and not the sole baking flour in a recipe.

The clover, regardless of the type you choose to use, has a wonderful light sweet flavor that some folks liken to spring peas. I have never eaten peas, spring or otherwise, but can attest to the nice sweet taste of clover flour in baked goods. Clover flour also gives baked goods a bit of a springy texture similar to that of sponge cake.

While red clover is deemed likely safe and to have possible medicinal value, its use has not been approved by the FDA. Not everyone is well suited to consume red clover, especially if you are undergoing chemotherapy or are on blood thinning medication.

If you want to give red clover flour a try in your next baking recipe but cannot find enough to make a decent amount of flour, just clean and dry a handful of flowerheads and stir them into your recipe to get a little taste of the added flavor and texture.

red clover flour pinterest

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