Cooking with Flowers

Cooking with Flowers is a delicious mix of food and flowers and possibly the most beautiful cookbook I have ever seen!

It makes me want to plant Roses, Tulips, Hollyhocks, Daylilies, Dianthus and it forever changed my opinion on Dandelions~ I’ll never curse one again :)

When I first saw this cookbook on Jain’s beautiful blog, my pulse quickened and my heart skipped a beat~ you’ll want to take the time to stop and taste the roses in Jain’s garden!

Feast your eyes

 and your taste buds. . .

From Cooking with Flowers:

“Here are more than 100 recipes that will bring beautiful flower-filled dishes to your kitchen table! This easy-to-use cookbook is brimming with scrumptious botanical treats, from sweet violet cupcakes, pansy petal pancakes, daylily cheesecake, and rosemary flower margaritas to savory sunflower chickpea salad, chive blossom vinaigrette, herb flower pesto, and mango orchid sticky rice.”

“Alongside every recipe are tips and tricks for finding, cleaning, and preparing edible blossoms. You’ll also learn how to infuse vinegars, vodkas, sugars, frostings, jellies and jams, ice creams, and more with the color and flavor of your favorite flowers. Fresh from the farmers’ market or plucked from your very own garden, a world of delectable flowers awaits!”

Since my pansies and violas I planted in the fall will soon be languishing in the heat and will need to be replaced with summer annuals in a couple of weeks, I thought I would try flower syrup. As with any edible flower, only use pansies or violas that are pesticide and chemical free.

 Pick your flowers in the morning when they are fresh, avoiding older bruised blooms. Rinse gently to “debug” them and pat dry. Remove each pansy or viola from its sepals (green base). If your pansy/viola petals separate, it won’t matter for the syrup.

For pansy/viola syrup:

 2 – 3 cups fresh or dried flower blossoms (I used 2 cups)

2 cups boiling water

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 to 1 cup fresh or frozen fruit, optional ( I didn’t use but will next time)

Makes 2 cups

Place blossoms in a medium bowl and pour boiling water over them. Let them stand for at least 2 hours and up to 24 hours (mine steeped for 3 hours). In a saucepan over medium heat, bring flower water, sugar and fruit if using, to a simmer. Cook for 4 minutes, then remove from heat and pour through a fine mesh strainer into a glass container. Discard solids and refrigerate up to a month.

Infused with the color of the pansies, this finishing syrup is a light lavender color, thinner and easier to pour than a simple syrup, and can also be used over ice cream. The flavor was slightly sweet and herbally, next time I’ll add berries for a little  fruit flavor.

I was inspired to make some Pansy Petal Pancakes,

or actually crepes!

There is a crepe recipe included in the cookbook, but I used my go to recipe~ Alton Brown’s, available at Food Network and added a teaspoon of vanilla to the crepe batter.

Pour 1/4 cup of your crepe batter in the middle of your hot skillet and swirl to distribute the batter quickly and evenly. After about 1 minute, add your violas or pansies to the crepe. I used my finger to press the petals down gently into the crepe until they flattened from heat from the pan. When the petals are flat, flip crepe and cook another 30 seconds or so. 

My first few crepes were a hot mess until I figured out how long to wait to place the flowers and flip the crepes, so experiment and save your prettier violas after you get the hang of your crepes.

You can make these crepes and stack them after they are cooled between sheets of parchment or wax paper and store in a sealable plastic bag in the fridge for several days. Reheat your crepe in the microwave and add your filling.

 My filling was a mixture of lemon curd and light cream cheese. You could fill your crepes with your favorite jam, fruit, whipped cream or nutella. The violas don’t add a distinctive flavor to the crepe especially with the filling, but what a pretty crepe to wake up to or enjoy for brunch~ especially for Mother’s Day!

“Sweet violets, spicy orchids, savory sunflowers- who knew flowers were so delicious?”

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