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Tuesday, June 1, 2021

Edible Flowers For Birthdays? What to see, grow and cook around the world




Edible flowers on chocolate cake. From Wikipedia.

If you go to the Botanical Gardens in Singapore or the open air gardens along the riverside outside Gardens By The Bay you can see many plants and trees which are used as food or medicine worldwide.

I first became interested in edible flowers when I was sent a birthday cake made of flowers, ordered from family in the UK, for delivery to Singapore. But you could not eat the flowers!

I wanted to order a cake from edible flowers, or  make my own cake with edible flowers. I made a note of possible edible flowers. I learned edible flowers which you intend to eat must be ordered only from suppliers of flowers suitable for consumption. That means no pesticides. So no plants) from garden centres, nor picked from roadsides.

Then friends on my cookery group in whatsApp replied to my query about edible flowers.



Then I found in Wikipedia flower pancakes from Korea. These delights are prepared and eaten at festival times. 

A colourful purple flower with a touch of greenery.

Hwajeon from Korea

Wiki reveals:

The word hwajeon (화전; 花煎) is a compound noun made of the Sino-Korean word hwa (화; 花), meaning "flower", and the Sino-Korean word jeon (전; 煎), meaning "a pan-fry".[5] The synonyms kkot-bukkumi (꽃부꾸미) and kkot-jijimi (꽃지지미) are also compounds of the native Korean word kkot (꽃), meaning "flower", and bukkumi (부꾸미), meaning a "pan-fried rice cake"; or kkot (꽃) and jijimi (지지미), meaning "pancake".[6][7]

Varieties and preparation[edit]

Hwajeon is made of edible petals from seasonal flowers. Typically, rhododendron, pear flower, goldenbell flower, cherry blossom, and violet are used in spring; rose is used in summer; and chrysanthemum and cockscomb are used in autumn.[1][3][5] In winter when flowers are scarce in Korea, alternatives like mugwort leaves, waterdropwort leaves, rock tripe, or jujubes are cut into flower shapes and used instead.[3]



Hwajeon from Korea. Picture in Wikicommons.

Here a piece of greenery in a v shape makes the cup shape base for a small flower bud shape. If you want to make a savoury design with greenery, here is an idea.

Basil

begonia

carnation

chives

chrysanthemum

clover

cornflower

dandelions

fuchia

hibiscus

lavender

pansy

Rose

sunflower

tulip


What can you do with the petals?

1 Add to iced drinks (in ice cubes)

2 Make a hot tea infusion

3 Add to decorate a white chocolate bar

4 Crystallize (egg white and sugar and heat to dry)

5 Place in gelatine or jelly

6 Decorate on top of cakes

7 Add to salads

8 Garnish cheeses (in layers of gel)


Wiki gives more details:

A number of foods are types of flowers or are derived from parts of flowers. The costly spice saffron consists of the stigmas and styles collected from the inside of a type of crocus flower. Broccoli, artichokes, and capers are all technically flower buds, albeit immature forms.[2] Other parts of the plants than the flowers mentioned in this list may be poisonous.

Flowers reported as edible include:[1]

See also[edit]


When I did a search on Lazada for edible flowers, first I got not available. I also had the headline including the word edible flowers, but the write-up said they were for making candles and inedible!

Useful Websites

1 Coloured rice paper flowers for toppings to muffins. About 5 dollars for about 50 pieces.

https://www.lazada.sg/products/50pcs-cupcake-topper-glutinous-edible-flowers-rice-paper-water-cake-decoration-bakeware-wedding-party-i1767509185-s9071466795.html

2 Similar with butterflies

https://www.lazada.sg/products/1-pack-edible-flowersbutterfly-cupcake-topper-glutinous-rice-paper-water-wedding-party-cake-decoration-bakeware-cake-decor-tool-i1767576005-s9071801771.html

3 Dried tea rose (buds) only slightly dearer

https://www.lazada.sg/products/rose-dried-tea-rose-pingyin-corolla-tea-scented-tea-double-leaf-rose-petals-edible-dried-flower-tea-big-flower-50g-i1794242813-s9435277478.html

4 Tea - if it is tea it must be safe to consume

https://www.lazada.sg/products/quality-supplytaste-rhyme-and-floral-fragrance-forget-me-not-flower-tea-authentic-wild-edible-forget-me-not-dried-herbal-tea-bottled-tea-i1794320050-s9434573404.html?spm=a2o42.searchlist.list.62.4dad1077aImKCx&search=1

5 Edible cake wrapper(s) - set of 8 small ones (?)

https://www.lazada.sg/products/flower-edible-wafer-for-birthday-cake-wrapper-8pcs-pre-cut-wedding-lace-cake-idea-decoration-edible-paper-for-cupcake-decoration-i

6 Edible Flowers (small fondant?)

https://www.lazada.sg/products/birthday-cake-decoration-fondant-chocolate-small-flower-multi-color-decoration-three-dimensional-edible-baking-decoration-plug-in-flower-i1729932253-s8560751287.html

Note that some pictures of plants are for seeds. I found packets of seeds in a local supermarket. You might want seedlings. See if it says the pot is included and height with and without pot.

I tried searching for ebay in the UK and up came a result from Shopee in Singapore

7 https://shopee.sg/%F0%9F%8C%BAEdible-Dried-Flower-Petal-Cornflower-Myosotis-Chamomile-Marigold-Flake-Dessert-Cake-Deco-

8 Dried rose buds and petals (kosher)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01F82OGHC/

9 Lavender Flowers

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07D7HPJF8/ref


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_edible_flowers

https://whatscookingamerica.net/EdibleFlowers/EdibleFlowersMain.htm

https://www.edibleblossoms.co.uk/product/berry-chocolate-blossom/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hwajeon

Wikipedia has several pages on flower teas.



I then remembered I had seen mothers had made amusing designs for children's lunch boxes. I hunted for flowers.

My last thought was that I have seen wonderful carvings of vegetables into shapes and there must be some deigned to look like flowers.

Some carvings from Thailand and elsewhere. Oranges, which you can buy most places, can easily be cut with a series of v shapes around the horizontal centre to make flowers.











Finally chocolates as flowers? Cheating on the diet?

About the Author
About Angela The Author
The Author - Quick Quotations

Angela Lansbury B A Hons  is the author of ten books by regular publishers plus another ten self-published books. 

About Angela The Speaker & Trainer

Angela Lansbury is a teacher of English and other languages to Toastmasters clubs and businesses.

Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters Speakers Vice President  Public Relations, Immediate Past President.
Former Area Director S3. Club Coach for Nee Soon South Toastmasters Club.
Also Member of: TCA Toastmasters Club; Singapore Online Dynamic; Harrovians UK
Garen Tee on using story telling in business, on bha.learncool.sg . 
Recent meetings of BHA included an educational session on using Powerpoint for posters.
Next BHA meetings, always first Wednesday evening, 7 pm Singapore time. Next meetings 1st Wednesday evening is Wednesday June 2nd at 7pm; and third Saturday afternoon, June 19th 2pm Singapore time.  

Angela The Blogger 

Angela has several blogs speeches, comedy and song writing and organizing, writing intermittently, but writes almost daily on these three:

See next post on sculptor Tom Harvey.

Please share links to your favourite posts. 


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