How to use, preserve and enjoy edible flowers

Edible flowers are more popular than ever, whether for topping your fairy cakes, adding flourish to your floral syrups, or bringing a splash of colour to a salad. Carolyn Dunster has ideas to fill your kitchen, and your food, with the beauty and flavour of flowers.

Preserve and conserve

There are myriad ways to incorporate edible flowers into everyday dishes and the key is to experiment with their different flavours, tastes, and textures. It is possible to preserve and conserve garden-grown edible flowers following the same methods as fruits and vegetables, and use them for making syrups, jams, and pickles.

Floral syrups

Flower syrups form the basis of many floral recipes. They are a way of bottling the fragrance of a flower – not unlike making perfume – and provide a means of converting the original scent into a taste. Rather than distilling the natural essential oils, done through steam extraction in perfume production, it is possible to capture the scent by steeping flowers in a warm sugar syrup. Pick flowers at their peak, when they have had the warmth of the sun on them and will be most strongly scented, to provide the best results. Once bottled, flower syrups will keep for a year.

As a guide these are the quantities you will need:

• Elderflower syrup: tenheads of elderflower for each cup of water
• Violet syrup: three cups of sweet violet flowers for each cup of water
• Lilac syrup: two cups of lilac florets for each cup of water
• Rose syrup: two cups of rose petals for each cup of water
• Lavender syrup: threetbsp of lavender flowers for each cup of water

How to make:

• Make your syrup using equal parts sugar and water ie one cup of water and one cup of sugar and bring to a simmer until the sugar has dissolved and the syrup starts to thicken
• Remove from the heat and add your flowers making sure they are all covered in the syrup
• Allow to cool overnight
• Decant into sterilised bottles or jars and seal
• Strain if you want a clear coloured syrup or leave in some petals for a pretty effect
• Label and store in a cool dark place. Once open keep refrigerated

Floral jams

To make a few pots of floral jam you will need:

• Five handfuls of freshly picked, scented flower heads or petals of your choice - best results are obtained from jasmine, roses, dianthus, lavender, violets, and lilac
• 460g (two cups) preserving sugar or granulated sugar
• Juice from two lemons
• 750 ml (25½ fl oz) cold water
• Sterilised jam jars

How to make:

• Wash your flowers or petals by dipping them in a bowl of cold water and carefully pat dry with a soft tea cloth or absorbent kitchen paper
• Put the flowers in a bowl and sprinkle with half the sugar and the lemon juice
• Cover and leave to rest for a minimum of two hours but ideally overnight
• Bring the water to a boil over medium heat
• Add the remaining sugar and lemon and simmer gently until the sugar has dissolved
• Add your flowers in small amounts and stir very gently
• Simmer gently for 20 minutes
• Bring to the boil again until the setting point is reached. Your mixture will start to thicken
• Do not be alarmed if your flowers turn brown. For jams It is the flavour that counts, and this will be released into the hot mixture
• Leave to settle for a few minutes and then spoon into your jar
• Seal immediately and store in a cold place
• Use within six weeks

Floral honey

Unflavoured, clear runny honeys will take on the flavours of scented flowers.

How to make:

• Pour a jar of runny honey into a small jug
• place a layer of freshly picked scented flower petals in the bottom of the original jar
• Pour a small amount of honey back in and continue to layer until the jar is full

Floral cordials

To make a floral cordial of your choice, use a handful of freshly picked, scented petals or flowers. Honeysuckle, lilac, hibiscus, elderflower, rose, or jasmine all make delicious, refreshing cordials.

How to make:

• Put the petals in a large bowl with 900g (4½ cups) granulated sugar, a sliced lemon and two litres (3.5 pints) of still mineral water
• Cover with a clean cloth and leave to infuse for 24 hours, stirring occasionally
• Strain the liquid and decant into clean glass bottles
• Seal and refrigerate
• If you want to serve as a long drink dilute with sparkling or still water.
• Keep some bottles aside for using in jellies, cocktails, and sweet batters

Teas and tisanes

You can make floral and herbal teas and tisanes from any edible flowers, herbs, and foliage.

How to make:

• Pour hot, boiled water over flowers, leaves or seeds to release their taste and aroma. This is the best way to capture any nutritional benefits
• Judge quantities according to taste, but generally a small handful of petals or seeds or one or two leaves is enough for one person. If making a pot, increase the amounts. Strain any liquid before drinking
• You can also flavour black or green tea leaves by layering them in a sealed container with perfumed flowers or foliage of your choice
• Allow a few days for the tea leaves to take on the flavour

Flower and herbal flavoured waters and unsweetened juices

Although rose water will be the first floral water to spring to mind, you can make any kind of floral or herbal water with scented edible flowers or herbs. Flavoured waters can also be used in sweet or savoury batters, dressings and marinades, or mixed with icing sugar to drizzle over fruit salads or as frosting for cakes.

Follow these instructions and substitute the rose petals for others of your choice.

How to make:

• Add a handful of clean rose petals to a saucepan
• Just cover the petals with mineral water
• Place the pan on the stove on low heat
• Cover the pan with a lid and let it simmer for 30–45 minutes
• Do not allow it to boil
• Simmer until the petals lose their colour
• Leave your rose water to cool completely
• Strain and pour into sterilised glass bottles
• Keep in the fridge until use

Flavoured alcoholic drinks

Creating tasty alcoholic drinks is an effective option with edible flowers.

How to make:

• Choose a clear, unflavoured alcohol such as gin or vodka: about 250ml (one cup) to 30g (one cup) of edible petals
• Place the petals in a sterilized glass jar and cover with the alcohol
• Leave to macerate in the fridge for a week and then strain into a sterilized bottle
• Use for cocktails or dilute for long drinks

Floral sugar

To create a floral sugar, use perfumed flowers such as beebalm, lilac, or lavender, herbs such as rosemary, mint, hyssop, lemon balm or sweet cicely, or scented foliage such as pelargonium or myrtle leaves.

How to make:

• Chop leaves as finely as possible removing any hard stalks from the leaves. You will need one tablespoon of chopped ingredients to 225g (1¼ cups) of caster sugar
• You can combine these in a pestle and mortar crushing the petals or leaves to release their scent or you can do this in a liquidizer or spice grinder which will result in a soft powdery sugar but is the best way to colour the sugar uniformly if this is the result you are after
• Decant into a clear jam jar and shake well. The sugar will gradually take on the flavour of your flowers, becoming stronger over time as the natural oils disperse
• Floral sugar will keep for about six months although the colour will gradually fade

Floral and herbal salt

Make floral or herbal salts to use on dishes and in recipes in place of ordinary salt – the brightly coloured petals of cornflowers, French marigolds or clover will add some real zing to a plate of fried potatoes or scrambled egg.

How to make:

• To flavour salt, use herb flowers: thyme, oregano, sage, coriander and tarragon to imbue the salt with their flavour
• Salt will preserve the flower colours and you can pick them out of the salt if you want to use more flowers than salt in dressings or marinades
• Just add a new batch of flowers to the original salt. It is better to use dried flower petals rather than fresh to keep salt moisture free
• Pack in an airtight jar between layers of sea salt or rock salt

Pickles

Pickles are a great way of using gluts of vegetables and make perfect gifts at Christmas or for birthdays throughout the year, but you can also pickle edible vegetable flowers such as fennel, or herb flowers.

How to make:

• Combine 300ml (11 fl oz) white wine vinegar, 50g (1/2 cup) caster sugar a pinch of caraway seeds or fennel seeds and ¼ tsp of rock salt
• Mix well and add a small handful of edible herb or vegetable flowers – borage, broad bean, rocket, celery, dill, fennel and parsley flowers all work well here
• Chill for at least 40 minutes to pickle
• The pickle will keep in the fridge for a couple of days
• You can use it to dress fish and chicken dishes or whisk four tbsp of olive oil into the pickle liquid to make a salad dressing.

Vinegars

To make a floral vinegar you will need 500ml (17 fl oz) white wine vinegar, a handful of freshly picked scented edible flowers for a sweet vinegar, or herb flowers for a sharp vinegar, a sterilised jar or bottle with a lid for sealing.

How to make:

• Gently warm the vinegar over a low heat, add your flowers to the jar or bottle
• Pour the vinegar over the flowers and seal immediately. Leave for a week to infuse and then strain into another clean bottle
• Use in dressings and marinades

Oils

To make a herbal oil, use 500ml (17 fl oz) of light vegetable oil as a carrier. Avoid using nut oils, or even olive oil, as they already have their own distinctive flavour.

How to make:

• Stand several stems of flowering herbs in a bottle or jar and simply pour the oil over the top
• Allow a week for the flavour to infuse

Salads

Mixed flower garden salads or green leaf salads topped with edible flowers are the best entry point for eating freshly picked flowers and it is the easiest way to introduce the idea to anyone who is uncertain – the beauty of the plate will win them over.

How to make:

• Avoid using sweetly scented blooms and stick to aromatic herb flowers and mix with vibrant edible flowers such as snapdragons, fuchsias, busy lizzies and begonias that tend to be blander in taste and more reminiscent of lettuce
• It is the textures and freshness that count in a delicious salad. For a kick of flavour use allium or chive florets, or garlic, mustard or chive flowers and bring in some foliage such as nasturtium or dandelion leaves for some peppery undertones

Crystallised or frosted flowers

This is the prettiest way to decorate cakes, cookies and desserts for a special occasion. Choose scented flowers for the best results: lavender heads, small roses and rose petals, violets and dianthus. The sugar coating will preserve the flowers for several months.

How to make:

• You will need one egg white whisked until light and fluffy
• Approximately 400g (two cups) caster sugar
• Two handfuls of edible flower petals and/or small edible flower heads
• Use a small paintbrush to coat the flowers and petals back and front with the egg white. Sprinkle the sugar evenly over the flowers and place them on a tray lined with greaseproof paper. Leave them to dry overnight. Once they are hard store in an airtight container

Ice cubes and lollies

Making ice cubes and lollies is another way to preserve edible flowers if you want to use them at a later stage. These can be added to soups, stocks and broths as required. Alternatively use them immediately in cold drinks for a visual effect.

How to make:

• Simply place small flower heads or petals in an ice tray and half fill with cold water
• Freeze, and when ice begins to form, fill the tray up to the top. This keeps the flowers fixed in the centre of the cube

Use the same method for making lollies with edible flowers in them.

• Fill a lolly mould a quarter of the way with diluted syrup or cordial and add flowers
• Freeze and repeat

Garnishes

Finally, for any beautiful garden-grown edible flowers that don’t have a strong enough flavour to earn their place as a single note ingredient, use them as garnishes. Think of your serving platters as alternative vases for arranging food and flowers together to create eye-catching displays that will instantly make everything look a hundred times more appetising.

Carolyn Dunster

A garnish of colourful, edible flowers finishes the look of a salad

• Buy Carolyn’s latest book A Floral Feast

Image credits: Carolyn Dunster, Joanna Yee, Nicholas Hodgson

Look out for Carolyn Dunster and Mark Diacono giving talks at RHS Shows

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