May 12, 1996|By Karol V. Menzie
It's flower power with a beautiful purpose: to transform dishes as simple as pizza and french toast or as complex as grilled salmon and homemade ice cream into glorious treats for the eye as well as the palate.
Edible flowers give food fresh tastes -- ranging from sweet to peppery -- crisp texture and dramatic color.
The edible flower phenomenon has been creeping eastward from California, where widespread organic farming and innovative chefs have been bringing flowers to the table on plates as well as in vases for the past few years. Today it's not unusual to find a few bright petals in a restaurant salad in Baltimore, and even to find small containers of "salad flowers" in specialty markets and gourmet shops.
"The best thing about using flowers is the element of surprise," said Kitty Morse, a California cooking teacher, food writer and cookbook author who recently published "Edible Flowers: A Kitchen Companion" (Ten Speed Press, 1995, $9.95). "Even using just a few blossoms immediately attracts attention."
She sprinkles julienne nasturtium petals on salads, puts squash blossoms in pasta, and adds lavender to custard or sprinkles just a few lavendar flowers on apple crisp.
Some flowers, such as violets, Johnny-jump-ups (violas), and the flowers of culinary herbs, are small enough to use whole. Petals of larger flowers such as roses or tulips can be cut up.
And it should be mentioned that no flowers should be eaten unless they are nontoxic and guaranteed to have been grown organically -- with no chemicals or pesticides whatsoever.
The best way to ensure your flowers are edible, of course, is to grow them yourself. You needn't have a farm-sized yard to do that: A few pots on a sunny terrace or windowsill can provide a supply of calendula (pot marigolds), lemon verbena, rosemary and pansies that will add sparkle -- and surprise -- to dozens of dishes.
"I use flowers all the time," said Jane Fallon, of Jane Fallon Catering, who numbers the Ladew Cafe at Ladew Topiary Gardens among her customers. "We have some wonderful house salads, and I chop up flowers and sprinkle them on top -- it's like it's raining flowers."
Ms. Fallon uses violas on cheese plates, or candies them and uses them to top fruit bowls. "And I think they do fabulous things with salmon," she said. She chops up calendula petals and sprinkles them around the edge of plates. "They are wonderful if I'm doing something like deviled eggs. Or when I'm doing a rice dish, it gives it a little color. It also adds depth to soup."
Flowers also can be candied for culinary uses. Jill Ann Williams of Baltimore has turned her love of candied flowers into a business, called Sudden Elegance. She does workshops and sells kits for drying and candying flowers. And she puts both candied and fresh flowers to great culinary use: Candied rosemary sprigs garnish sliced bananas in lavender syrup with lavender blossoms; candied violets dot vanilla wafers for a child's tea party. She even candies dandelion leaves and uses them as "Christmas trees" on platters of holiday cookies.
When choosing flowers to go with food, Ms. Williams applies the same principles as in flower arranging: She uses the color wheel to select opposite colors. "Red and green go together, and purple and orange, and blue and yellow," she said. "I make a white potato salad -- the dressing is equal parts of sour cream and mayonnaise, with a little rose-petal vinegar. I use the inside -- leaves of celery, which are chartreuse, and then I use pink rose petals." She also pairs (green) cucumbers and (red) rose petals and puts (blue) violets into (yellow) cornbread muffins.
Cooking with flowers is not a new idea: The ancient Romans used violets and roses in dishes and squash blossoms are common in Native American and Italian cooking. Rosewater is widely used in the Middle East for flavoring beverages and desserts.
If you think you've never noshed on flowers, you're probably wrong, said Cathy Wilkinson Barash, New York garden writer and author of "Edible Flowers: From Garden to Palate" (Fulcrum Publishing, 1993, $29.95). "When I lecture, I start by asking, 'How many of you have eaten flowers?' It depends on the audience, if it's an herb society, they almost all say they have. But an ordinary group, they almost all say no."
She then points out that Chinese hot and sour soup is made with dried day lilies, and many herbal teas are made of flowers -- chamomile for instance, or Celestial Seasonings' Red Zinger, flavored and colored with hibiscus.
Don't eat Chinese, don't like "fancy" teas? Artichokes and broccoli are flower buds, she said.
