White Flower

November 8th, 2008 admin Leave a comment Go to comments

White Flower

Edible Flowers in Your Garden

Flowers can be an integral part of cooking. While most of us are
aware that violets can be candied and nasturtiums can be eaten
in salads, there's a bounty of flower varieties that are both
edible and delicious.

Satisfying Your Sweet Tooth with Flowers Violets are not
the only flower that can be candied. Many spring flowers with
small, delicate blossoms have a sweet, somewhat spicy flavor
that is enhanced by dipping them in sugar. It goes without
saying that any flowers that you gather for eating should have
been grown without the use of pesticide - by growing them
yourself, you can be sure that they're untreated. A Candy Flower
Garden that blooms throughout the summer can include:

Violets - Purple, blue or white, violets are among the first
flowers to bloom in the spring. They spread easily, and grow
happily when transplanted into a garden bed - and you do want to
confine them to a bed unless you love the look of a full carpet
of blooms spreading across your lawn.

Pansies - A relative of violets, pansies are just as delicately
flavored and can be used as a substitute in recipes that call
for violets. They make beautiful border flowers to boot.

Angelica - These delicate, lacy white flowers can be sprinkled
in salads - but the stems and shoots make a delicious
traditional candy that tastes a bit like licorice with a hint of
mint.

Roses - Candied rose petals and rose syrup were mainstays in
Victorian cooking. Sweet delicately flavored rose syrup gives
baklava its characteristic flavor, and is a perfect foil for
cardamom in Indian recipes.

To candy flowers from your garden: Violets and pansies
can be candied whole. Roses should be separated into petals.
Most recipes for candied flowers call for the use of raw egg
whites. Using a confectioner's powdered egg white instead
reduces risk of salmonella.

Mix powdered egg white according to package directions
(equivalent of one egg white). Spread a cup of superfine sugar
in a flat bottomed pan. Carefully dip each flower into the egg
white, then press into the sugar. Use a fork to gently turn the
flower so that all surfaces of the petals are covered. Lift out
of sugar and lay on a screen or drying rack till completely dry.
Apple and cherry blossoms can also be candied the same way.

A Soup, Salad and Savory Flower Garden Early summer
squash blossoms may be dipped in egg and flour, then fried in
olive oil with garlic. The blossoms have a sweet, nutty flavor
that is like nothing else. Other garden flowers that are
delicious in soups and salads include:

Borage - Like the leaves, borage flowers are delicious in salads
and cold soups. They have a cool, cucumber like taste that
translates well from flower garden to kitchen table.

Carnations - The flavor is as spicy as the scent. Carefully
separate the petals from the bitter white of the flower's base
and sprinkle in salads for a surprising touch of color and spice.

Daylilies - Like squash blossoms, day lilies have a mildly
sweet, nutty flavor that many people think varies by color.
Dredged in flour and dipped in egg, fried daylilies are quite
succulent and unique in flavor.

These are just a small sampling of the many edible flowers from
your garden. Be careful in your taste-testing. If you are not
sute if a flower is edible do not eat it.

Orli & Martie - White Flower (Jerome Isma-Ae Remix)