I want to try baking with edible flowers.
Obviously this is not a huge thing and I could easily just, you know, DO IT, but there are complications.
I've initiated the process of trying this a few times, actually. See, it's dangerous to just buy flowers and use them in baking, because nearly every place you buy flowers from will have used toxic pesticides or at least substances that aren't meant to be eaten in their quest to create healthy, pretty flowers. Therefore, if you want to be sure your flowers are not going to poison you or make you sick, you have to either get them from a place that sells them for eating purposes or grow them yourself.
I have on several occasions planted flowers that were supposed to yield edible blooms, but some never grew and some never bloomed. I tried bachelor's buttons, nasturtiums, and snapdragons. Somehow never got something I could use.
If I could get petals I can use, the next step would be to just coat the petals in egg whites and dip them in sugar, then let them dry on wax paper. I don't like the idea of using raw egg whites to eat without cooking, so I would likely just get a substitute egg product and use that.
These are the types of flowers that have blossoms you can use safely:
Allium, angelica, apricot blossom, apple blossom, bachelor button, bean blossom, begonia, calendula, carnation, chrysanthemum, clover, crab apple, dandelion, day lily, dianthus, gardenia, geranium, ginger, gladiola, hibiscus, hollyhock, honeysuckle, hyacinth, jasmine, johnny jump-up, lavender, lilac, lily, marigold (the calendula type only), monarda, nasturtium, orange blossom, pansy, peach blossom, pear blossom, peony, plum blossom, primrose, rose, snapdragon, squash blossom, strawberry blossom, tulip, viola, violet, and yucca.
Ideally, I'd like to get some petals from one of these, make candied flower petals from them, and use them on cupcakes. :) We'll see if I ever do it.
Note: I DID once make fritters with elder flowers baked in! (I ordered them from a site that provides dried herbs that are packaged to be eaten.) But the recipe I used was really supposed to have FRESH flowers, not dried ones, so the texture was kinda not what I wanted.
One day maybe I'll make my sugar-n-spice cakes with flower petals instead of jellybeans!
I have been wanting to decorate some baked goods with edible flowers, too! Are we related? I called the Carrollwood Whole Foods and they carry a 3/4-ounce package of assorted fresh, edible flowers in their produce department. They said it costs $6.99 and includes marigolds, pansies, and others. I know that's not your regular place to shop, but Instacart does go there. Food for thought sometime! -P
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