Some of you must have seen gorgeous desserts decorated with flower buds, and many people think those are just there to provide a nice look, and use their fork to gently put them aside rather than to consume them. Too bad! Today, flowers are an ingredient of haute cuisine in their own right: no longer just a delicate, fragile thing to grace the meal, but something that can bring out an amazing taste in even the blandest of foods, lending a truly royal grandeur and chic to any dish.
Candied blossoms used to decorate cakes and other sweet goodies are perfectly edible (candied rose petals are nothing short of delicious!), widely included in jelly, jello-based desserts, and refreshing drinks, — and that’s just one example; more on that in our recent overview of edible blooms. Today, let us explore the delectable topic of flowers as food in more detail!
Nature’s masterpieces into culinary masterpieces: tips and tricks on using flowers as food
Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful;
they are sunshine, food, and medicine for the soul.
Luther Burbank
Blooming salads
The salad, now an international concept, was actually introduced by Ancient Romans who enjoyed consuming a mixture of Cichorium endivia leaves, parsley, and onions, seasoned with honey, salt, and vinegar. In the Middle Ages, Italian cuisine started to include spicier salads made of spring onions, blades of garlic leaves, mint, and parsley. It was around that time that flowers began to appear in salads.
But it was only in the late 16th and early 17th century that salads came to France, often called their second birthplace. In those years, salads were mainly considered an exquisite dish consumed exclusively by the French court and were served with roast meat. It was then that salads began to feature lettuce; initially, they could also contain clusters of wild cabbage, Capsella, viola blossoms, calendula petals, and starflower. Over the next two centuries, plants used in salads grew in variety, gradually including garden and wild orache, chicory, nasturtium, dandelion, garden cress, corn salad, spinach, sorrel, celery, asparagus, and eventually, cucumbers.
The French also enjoyed adding blossoms of various viola species, garden pansies, and nasturtium, as well as rose petals. With its delicate plant leaves and blooms with an overall bland taste, another distinguishing feature of the French salad was its tangy salad dressing, which Italian salads, with their spicy vegetable herbs, had no need of. The dressing was made with dry wine or grape vinegar, lemon juice with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper, and flavoring spices.
Your guide to using flowers in a salad:
1. Only pick young leaves and fresh blooms.
2. All the components — leaves, blossoms, and petals — have to be rinsed thoroughly for the oils in the dressing to cover them evenly.
3. It’s better to tear up the leaves by hand rather than cutting them to keep them from turning brown.
4. Use sharp scissors to cut larger blossoms and petals into strips.
5. Salt makes the delicate petals and leaves shrivel, so only add a little bit just before serving.
6. Before adding the dressing, it’s a good idea to add a bit of vegetable oil and give the salad a good mix.
7. Salads should be served in wooden or ceramic bowls, and mixed using cutlery that does not cause oxidation, such as wooden spoons and spatulas.
Pretty sauced
Sauces are among the most amazing seasonings ever invented. As we know, the most famous sauces have all been introduced by the French between the 17th and 18 centuries; there was even a saying in France: “An architect’s mistakes are covered with a beautiful façade, a doctor’s with dirt, and a cook’s with sauce.” Indeed, a few spoonfuls of fragrant sauce often seem to make even the most miserable failure of a dish taste like a culinary masterpiece!
Today, there is a huge variety of sauces, and the chefs still continue to come up with new concoctions made of increasingly bold and exotic ingredients, with flower blooms being a key part of that trend. Sauces used for sweeter dishes such as fruit salads tend to include petals of carnations, roses, violas, mallows, and thin-leaved species of marigolds; sauces for vegetable salads, potato chips, or savory dishes feature petals of watercress and calendula, as well as blossoms of spice plants such as sage, thyme, rosemary, and lophantus.
And now, for the main course
Where blossoms of squash are king! Not only are they considered to taste better than most blossoms, they are also rich in vitamins A and C, calcium, potassium, and phosphorus. Marrow blossoms are used in a hot dish that is both filling and exquisite-looking, where they are first stuffed with minced meat, fish, or vegetables, and then baked, braised, or steamed.
Our just desserts
Acacia blooms are very fragrant and sweet, and used in desserts when fried or candied; their taste is particularly noteworthy when paired with honey.
The petals of carnations are also sweet and have a pleasant, delicate fragrance, so chefs use them in desserts, and when dried, can be an indispensable ingredient in sauces for fish or white meat. Be sure to remove the white part of the blossom, as it is bitter.
Hibiscus petals are used in teas as their flavor is somewhat sour; they pair well with blueberries in sweeter desserts.
Dude, chill
Nothing is more refreshing after a hearty meal than a cool drink with some floral ice! Historically, people used flowers all over the world to make soft drinks and enrich their flavor: rose petals in the Middle East to make cold sherbets, sweet-scented bedstraw was a base for light white wines and apple juice in Germany, peony petals were a famed thirst quencher in China, and in Russia, organum, mint, and balsam herb added flavor to kvass and apple ciders. Today, it is more popular than ever to drink cold floral teas and iced lemonades in hot weather.
Cubes of ice with edible flowers frozen in are a striking addition for any beverage; blooms of smaller garden carnations, miniature roses, garden rockets, starflower, and all species of pelargonium are typically used. To make this ice, fill half of the ice tray with water, carefully put the blossoms on top of each block, put the tray in the freezer, then take it out once the ice has formed, fill the rest of the blocks with water, and put the tray back in the freezer.
Much like nature has created its masterpieces to make our life brighter, so have our flower experts created their one-of-a-kind arrangements so that you can delight your loved ones who live far away.
- Whether you’re looking for a hint on what kind of flowers are the best way to make their day or have a very specific idea on a bouquet to choose for international delivery, our catalogs have got you covered!
- If you’re looking for a tailored message, a custom bouquet builder is a way to go — or you can always consult with our experts!
- Follow us on Facebook or Instagram for more stories about flowers and everything flower-related!
Born in Nalchik in 1966, graduated with a major in English Lit, and working as a school teacher since 1990. My interests are diverse: music, good literature, and computer technology at the user level. I like to try new things, and I bring what I started to its logical conclusion. Oh! And I do love my pets! I’m already 54 and I still believe in miracles and hobbits with elves and Gandalf. I myself am a bit of an adventuress like a hobbit, and I love mushrooms, too, like they do.