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Let Them Eat Petals: Why British tables are blooming
The nation's vegetable aisles are suddenly bright with edible flowers. Terri Judd reports
Saturday, 16 April 2011
For years the preserve of artistically flamboyant chefs, edible flowers are now blooming in the nation's vegetable aisles. As of this month, discerning domestic chefs can add nasturtiums to their bangers and mash or violas to their vanilla ice cream.
Responding to an increasing trend, Waitrose will now be selling edible flowers at their salad counters, while the home-improvement chain B&Q is promoting growing kits.
Eating flowers is certainly not a modern affectation: the Romans and Victorians were fans. But in the 20th century, blooms were confined to the dinner centrepiece rather than the cooking pot.
"Flowers have been so ignored and people have become afraid of them but they are just normal and natural to add. They are amazing and can add a flavour of spices or peppers," said chef Silvena Rowe, a devotee who will be including flowers among many of her recipes when the restaurant Quince at the May Fair opens in June. It will include dishes such as Orange and Orange Blossom Baklava, a 16th-century favourite of Roxelane, a harem girl who married Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent.
"Flowers are like a splash of Viagra in the dish. They are not just visual but they add an injection of flavour," Ms Rowe said. "Eastern Mediterranean cuisine is the cuisine of queens. It is not just food for the stomach. It is visual, a feast for all the senses.
"I have a dish of roasted king prawns on pomegranate butter with anise flowers. They lie like water lilies in a purple pool of pomegranate butter. They not only add a delicate flavour of aniseed to the sweet and sour, velvety butter but the visual yellow on the deep purple satisfies your whole existence." For the uninitiated, Ms Rowe recommended trying the flowers of herbs such as chives, thyme, rosemary and wild garlic, severed from supermarket products but ideal to flavour a salad.
But before tucking into a daffodil or sweet pea from the garden, be warned that they, like many pretty plants, are poisonous.
"Just make sure they are edible ones. Most roses are edible as long as they have not been sprayed," said Ms Rowe, who wrote Purple Citrus & Sweet Perfume, a book full of recipes using flowers.
When delving into this new culinary world, experts are adamant that you should only cook flowers when you are sure they are not toxic, have not been grown with pesticides and have all the pistils and stamens removed.
B&Q insisted that many people are turning to growing their own, with sales of kits of products such as its edible pansy and nasturtium growing kits up nearly 25 per cent year on year. The chain's horticulture trading manager, Steve Guy, said: "We are making it easier for our customers to re-create 'masterchef' dishes."
And 180 Waitrose stores will be selling pots of viola and nasturtium blooms grown in Evesham, Worcestershire. Rhonwen Cunningham, a buyer for the supermarket, said: "Violas have a very mild flavour whilst the yellow nasturtiums taste slightly peppery. Edible flowers were a popular food a few hundred years ago and we're now seeing a renewed interest in eating these traditional English garden ingredients."
etc..
http://www.independent.co.uk/environmen ... 68626.html
Let Them Eat Petals: Why British tables are blooming
The nation's vegetable aisles are suddenly bright with edible flowers. Terri Judd reports
Saturday, 16 April 2011
For years the preserve of artistically flamboyant chefs, edible flowers are now blooming in the nation's vegetable aisles. As of this month, discerning domestic chefs can add nasturtiums to their bangers and mash or violas to their vanilla ice cream.
Responding to an increasing trend, Waitrose will now be selling edible flowers at their salad counters, while the home-improvement chain B&Q is promoting growing kits.
Eating flowers is certainly not a modern affectation: the Romans and Victorians were fans. But in the 20th century, blooms were confined to the dinner centrepiece rather than the cooking pot.
"Flowers have been so ignored and people have become afraid of them but they are just normal and natural to add. They are amazing and can add a flavour of spices or peppers," said chef Silvena Rowe, a devotee who will be including flowers among many of her recipes when the restaurant Quince at the May Fair opens in June. It will include dishes such as Orange and Orange Blossom Baklava, a 16th-century favourite of Roxelane, a harem girl who married Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent.
"Flowers are like a splash of Viagra in the dish. They are not just visual but they add an injection of flavour," Ms Rowe said. "Eastern Mediterranean cuisine is the cuisine of queens. It is not just food for the stomach. It is visual, a feast for all the senses.
"I have a dish of roasted king prawns on pomegranate butter with anise flowers. They lie like water lilies in a purple pool of pomegranate butter. They not only add a delicate flavour of aniseed to the sweet and sour, velvety butter but the visual yellow on the deep purple satisfies your whole existence." For the uninitiated, Ms Rowe recommended trying the flowers of herbs such as chives, thyme, rosemary and wild garlic, severed from supermarket products but ideal to flavour a salad.
But before tucking into a daffodil or sweet pea from the garden, be warned that they, like many pretty plants, are poisonous.
"Just make sure they are edible ones. Most roses are edible as long as they have not been sprayed," said Ms Rowe, who wrote Purple Citrus & Sweet Perfume, a book full of recipes using flowers.
When delving into this new culinary world, experts are adamant that you should only cook flowers when you are sure they are not toxic, have not been grown with pesticides and have all the pistils and stamens removed.
B&Q insisted that many people are turning to growing their own, with sales of kits of products such as its edible pansy and nasturtium growing kits up nearly 25 per cent year on year. The chain's horticulture trading manager, Steve Guy, said: "We are making it easier for our customers to re-create 'masterchef' dishes."
And 180 Waitrose stores will be selling pots of viola and nasturtium blooms grown in Evesham, Worcestershire. Rhonwen Cunningham, a buyer for the supermarket, said: "Violas have a very mild flavour whilst the yellow nasturtiums taste slightly peppery. Edible flowers were a popular food a few hundred years ago and we're now seeing a renewed interest in eating these traditional English garden ingredients."
etc..
http://www.independent.co.uk/environmen ... 68626.html