A great way to jazz up your plates this spring is to use edible flowers as decoration for your salads or your mains. If you can get organic flowers that’s great. In general you need to make sure that the flowers you source haven’t been sprayed with chemicals. This article has guidance on how you can prep them. It’s as simple as washing them gently in cold water, draining them on a paper towel and then letting them dry naturally. What flowers can you eat?
Here’s a list of our favourites:
Lavender: Great when infused with drinks or in baked products
Hibiscus: Again, our favourite for cocktails
Marigolds: Sprinkle the petals over your salad
Rose: Drink rosebud or rose petals tea
Violets and pansies: use on dessert plates or to decorate your cakes
Generally, the flowers have a short shelf life, as you can imagine. Here’s a tip if you want to keep them for longer: candy them. It’s a relatively simple process and you don’t need great skills. Again, the rule applies: make sure that you’re only using pesticide-free edible flowers. Simple whisk an egg white till foamy, spread each petal and part of the flower with a light coating and then sprinkle a layer of finely ground sugar over the flower and leave to dry. They look pretty and delicate at the same time and you can use them in various applications on the dessert plate or even as a table decoration!