Petal Pizzazz

This time in the FT Kitchen atelier, the ingredient spotlight is edible flowers: full of splendour and rich in colour from Marx Foods, a family-owned company. Based in the Emerald City (Seattle), the online retailer provides quality fresh and fine food products—lofty ingredients for exalted restaurants, chefs and even home cooks.

There seems to be a resurgence in floral embellishing in the culinary industry. Perhaps, it’s a dash of classic garnishing that never really left to some degree, but it has made heavier impressions in modern creations. As the daughter of a caterer and fine cook, I know that I have fond memories of watching my mum use flowers in cooking and baking (pan-fried dandelions, and jasmine cake comes to mind amongst many others).

Whether you’re a pastry chef, home baker, or any berry bowl connoisseur, you already know that flowers just make everything prettier! But, let’s be honest, you can’t compromise with taste, so I’ve put together a few favourites that we tried during this particular shoot. You may be surprised to know that some edible flowers can not only be used for its allure and petal glory, but there are actual health benefits in some as well.

Spring has made an entrance and, with summer’s awaited arrival, there are days when your wants may outweigh your foodie needs. Wanting a cold smoothie, and other days when you might need an indulgent treat due to climate conditions. Don’t fret, we covered most all of these cravings below for your spring entertaining.  Take a look at some of the ways I’ve incorporated flowers in this presentation.

From homemade doughnuts to a flourless butterscotch brownie cake, if you’re in a time crunch, there are plenty of easy ways to garnish foods that you can prepare for any group of friends in no time. Additionally, vanilla chia pudding and chilled Mediterranean salad are just couple of ideas I started with. I used flowers to garnish these recipes to brighten up our dishes, adding a refining element to the whole aesthetic.

By the time you’re comfortable with using blooms in your cooking and baking, you will find various calibres of exploration and ways to decorate. Marx Foods sent some of our favourites from their edible range: Micro Dianthus and Pansy Blossoms.

The pansies are quite mild in taste, namely the soft yellow coloured petals had an almost buttery taste, in addition to their natural semi-sweet flavour. The other colours were milder and none altered the taste of the dishes or beverages.

The Micro Dianthus are redolent of carnations, and were a bit tricky to work with initially, as they’re delicate in scale. They are slightly bitter in taste, and come in rich purplish-red hued petals with small rumpled edges. The dianthus flowers were the perfect epicurean accompaniments to a simple or decadent dessert.

So, instead of eating your regular boring porridge, spring salad, or scrambled eggs, next time give your plate some vitality and style with a touch of floral. I added a few pansy blossoms to the hibiscus and cinnamon iced-tea that I made. It’s refreshing and full of brilliant colour to make a statement by the glass. More importantly, it will get conversations started and will bring pleasant smiles to your guests.

What do you think of these spring creations? Have you used edible flowers?

Shop Kitchen Essentials

The goods: Pansy Blossoms and Micro Dianthus flowers-Courtesy of Marx Foods, Stemware, Flatware, and Hostess set-Shop Reed & Barton, Kitchen linens: “Agda”/”Kackel” kitchen towel in eco-cotton, and cardinal and “Agda”/“Kackel” eco-printed napkins-c/o Gudrun Sjoden. View recipes here. More coming soon. *Special thanks to Marx Foods, and a shout out to Veronica for providing ace customer service! Shop and view the edible flower range here.