Flowers look pretty, and some smell even better. Then there are those that are very good for flavouring. Using edible flowers as ingredients, medicine or food décor is not a new phenomenon, but one should be very careful before using them. Flowers from florists or nurseries can be harmful because they are sprayed with pesticides and other chemicals to make them look more beautiful.
Flowers should be eaten only if they are bought from a place that sells them for this purpose or if they are home grown and you know they are edible. They should be cleaned properly before being consumed. Some flowers have edible petals while others have edible stamens. Research and study is required before you even start using actual flowers in your food but there are quite a few that we can get and use easily in our homes.
The rose is one of the most common flowers used in food and grown in home gardens all over the world. From rose water to rose syrup, this beautiful flower is used in both sweet and savoury dishes. The flavour is available as essence to use in cookies and cakes. The versatility of the rose flavouring makes it a good fit with different foods and drinks. The petals can be used for garnishing custards and puddings and it can be used to make water-based drinks fresher. The red colour of the rose and the sweet fragrance are always refreshing, and have a cooling effect on the body, thus making it an apt flower to consume during summer.
Tea is one beverage that is often made fragrant by flowers. Jasmine, dandelion, lavender, chamomile and hibiscus, are all flowers that help in aroma therapy and give a different character to the tea they are added to.
We use many herbs in Indian, Italian or Chinese cuisine. These herbs are usually leaves or seeds of plants, making them the most strongly flavoured part. Flowers of these herbs give a gentler flavour and more colour, making them good options to use in salads. Rosemary, sage, thyme, oregano, anise (saunf) and ginger have edible flowers.
Marigold flowers have a tangy to bitter flavour and their colour needs no description. Also known as the ‘poor man’s saffron’, it resembles the expensive spice in flavour and colour and thus can be integrated into dishes you want to give a goldenish yellow colour to, or to garnish soups and salads.
Flowers of citrus fruits contain all of the fragrance and none of the juice. If you have a dish that you do not want to make juicy or watery but want to add flavour to, you can use the rind, but if you want to make it prettier, you can use the blossoms. Orange, lemon, lime and grapefruit all have edible flowers. The little flowers can be used in ice creams, cookies, desserts and cakes. Just keep a watch on the quantity or the fragrance will be overpowering.
Some flowers like gladiolus are bland, but petals are edible and can be used in the place of rice paper and the likes to make good stuffing. These petals do not have a flavour but do add to the exotic presentation of the dish.
Flowers are beautiful to look at and we are not the only creatures attracted to them, a lot of critters make flowers their food and home. But even if they look clean, flowers usually are not. To clean edible flowers before use, first shake them to remove all insects. Remove the stamens, put the flowers in a colander and run a jet of water to wash them. Use a paper towel to gently dab the excess water dry. The flowers will keep their fragrance and colour if they are not exposed to direct sunlight or kept wet for long.
So be it any kind of food, drink or dessert, you can definitely use flowers as that something special to make that drab everyday dish more colourful and exciting.
As with every type of food you eat, be careful of where it comes from and search the Internet or a guide to be absolutely sure that the pretty flower you choose to make your dish special with is actually edible.