Edible Flowers, Wafers and Dehydrated Fruits

Cocktails that are pleasing to the eye are just as important as aesthetic food plating. Edible flowers are trending this year, adding a pretty garnish and subtle hints of flavour to our cocktails.
For representational purposes
For representational purposes

BENGALURU: Cocktails that are pleasing to the eye are just as important as aesthetic food plating. Edible flowers are trending this year, adding a pretty garnish and subtle hints of flavour to our cocktails. Edible flowers can be seen plated in an increasing number of cocktails, as they are mostly used for their decorative and garnishing purposes. But the rising awareness of flavour and health benefits offered from edible flowers has resulted in a significant increase in the use of them as flavouring agents which also offer medicinal benefits. For the visual appeal and strong aromatic flavours, consumers are appreciating the colourful flowers’ different flavour and texture in their drinks. 

While drinks can be dressed up with sprinkles, sauces, and citrus garnishes, there’s another type of garnish that may be even prettier. Edible flowers are a beautiful addition to a variety of beverage options, immediately enhancing the look and sometimes even the flavour of the drink. How bartenders use edible flowers is seemingly endless. Some edible flowers can add robust flavour to a cocktail, while other blooms serve as fancy flourishes so cocktails can fit a colour scheme or theme. 

Wafer paper is a tasteless edible paper made from potato starch and olive oil. It stays rather firm and papery and the consistency is similar to communion wafers. This automatically makes guests want to take pictures and post it on social media, which in turn gets us a lot of organic visibility. Some of our signature cocktails have these edible wafers and are definitely the most eye-catching aspect when it comes to our drinks. 

Another trend is dehydrated fruits used as a garnish. The dehydration process darkens the fruit itself quite significantly. This can provide a dramatic, intriguing contrast against your drinks, allowing you to play with really interesting colour combinations – think foams, or darkly-coloured combinations of liquids. 

For our G&T cocktail, The Monarch, we used dehydrated turmeric as a garnish. Similarly, each cocktail has its own unique garnish, which complements the aesthetic, aroma or flavour of the cocktail accordingly. 

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