Gourmet food is expensively delicious not only for its quality ingredients and taste, but also for its aesthetics. Aesthetics in food are making a big comeback in today’s restaurants, and for good reason. An experience involving one sense unwittingly involves more than one.
So while we eat, we may think that taste is all that our brain is processing, but it’s a much richer experience than that. The smell and the sight of the food are major points in the eating experience. One of the most natural and most appealing ways to brighten up and beautify a dish is the simple addition of an edible flower!
There are many varieties which are edible, and add a subtle flavour into your dish. Cooking with flowers, though, is a cautious process, as you must be completely sure that what you are serving is neither poisonous nor chemically treated. Once you have chosen your flowers safely, the options available for cooking are very wide.
I don’t recommend you start viewing bouquets as scrumptious salads and chewing away upon receiving a gift, it is worth realizing the value of flowers as a garnish and ingredient to complement a slew of recipes.
The absolutely most important factor when deciding to cook with flowers is to be sure that the variety is edible, and not poisonous. This blog provides general guidelines, do confirm before the use of any plant in your food that it is, in fact, edible.
The safest bet for edible flowers is those that will eventually grow into the vegetables and fruits that we already know and love. Often the flowers of vegetables, fruits, and herbs offer a reminder of the plant they come from, in a more subtle flavour.
Examples are the basil, chive, garlic, and lemon flowers. These are good garnishes for dishes which may already use the fruit of the above-mentioned flowers. The chamomile flower is very gentle and pleasant also.
Other flowers that come from plants we know are the arugula flower, the mustard flower, the squash flower (which can even be fried and eaten on its own), and the sunflower. Edible flowers are not limited to those which later blossom into fruits and vegetables.
Some of the prettiest flowers have petals which we can eat. Specifically, carnations, dandelions, jasmine, rose, lavender, violets, and daisies are edible. Some of these add a beautiful aroma to the dish, and a very romantic bite. Such flowers are perfect to add to a salad, because they add sharp colour, which always makes a salad more appealing, along with a delicate flavour.
There are important rules that absolutely must be followed when using flowers in cooking. The importance of certainty in the safety of the specific flower is of utmost importance. Never use an ingredient in your cooking that you are not sure is safe.
Remember that many flowers are poisonous, so be certain of the identity of the flowers you have chosen to cook with. Once this step has been checked, we’re ready to move on to the next rule of flower cooking. This rule is where you get your flowers from.
Do not buy flowers for cooking from florists, unless specifically grown for eating purposes. Most flowers for a florist are not grown as comestibles, and thus are not treated as comestibles. The products which these flowers are treated with are not to be consumed. Thus, either find a florist who specializes in growing flowers for eating purposes or grow your own!
Growing your own flowers for food entails basically the same rules as growing flowers for aesthetic pleasure, but be sure to avoid pesticides, and use natural methods of keeping bugs away: plant a variety of flowers near each other, as this equilibrium may help ward off bugs; remember that lady bugs are a good bug that eats many pests, so know your friendly bugs; smearing some garlic and coffee grinds into the soil often keeps pests at bay as they hate the sharpness and bitterness of these foods.
Lastly, use only the petals of flowers, as the pollen may cause allergies, and is often bitter. Especially for first-time flower cooks, use small amounts, as any food new to the digestive tract should be introduced slowly and easily.
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