Blooming Delicious

Edible flowers? Blooming delicious!From lemon-flavoured daisies to peppery pink dianthus, edible flowers are more than just decoration.

Emine Saner guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 31 March 2010 21.00 BST Article history
Kathy Brown's early spring salad with primroses and violets.

Quite an article.....my garden here at Stevington is bursting with white, pink and blue scented violets as well as beautiful wild primroses.....all so tasty and just right for easter salads, and cakes and roulades etc!
We next open on May 2nd.....see my website for details of all openings.
www.kathybrownsgarden.homestead.com

Rosemary Flower Risotto

This was a floral feast for early December! Melting risotto, beautiful soft Queen scallops, a handful of peas and a few snatches of spinach made this a memorable dish for Sunday lunch with family and friends.
BUT, here's the floral twist! Add to all that creamy softness, a scattering of aromatic (like the herb itself) pale blue blooms of rosemary and a sprinkling of tasty (like aniseed) bronze fennel flowers. Both of these are still in flower, in my edible flower border, even though winter is fast closing in. The result: a dish fit for any occasion where texture, fragrance, colour, vision and above all taste come together in a miraculous way.

Stevington Floral Ice Bowls for Visit Bedford

After my Visit Bedford visitors had left, I popped the ice bwols back in the freezer where they might wait for a special occasion...should it be for orange liqueur ice cream, or a chilled soup. The marigold bowl had marigolds, bayleaves, rosehips and rosemary around the sides with juniper berries and pumpkin seeds for good measure. I love it from the inside just as much as from the outside. The rose bowl had little roses, a sprig of lavender and even a few violets. Now I have been asked to do an edible flower demonstration for some American Visitors to Bedford next May from ASTA (American Society of Travel Agents). That should be easier than November, but there will be no roses!

Rose Petal Macaroons for Visit Bedford

On Saturday morning we welcomed over 60 representatives of tourist groups from the West Midlands and East Anglia as part of a 'Visit Bedford' weekend. Luckily, it was a beautifully clear, sunny morning and Simon was able to take two tours of the garden, relishing the autumn colours but also bringing in many local historical aspects from Danes to John Bunyan!

My task was to perform an edible flower demonstration....quite a feat for November 7th! I had previosuly frozen some rose petal butter, and also frozen whizzed up rose petals with icing sugar. Now out of the freezer, all I needed to do was add some rose water to make the actual icing. Fortunately lots of tiny roses were still blooming on Rosa 'The Fairy' so, once the cake was assembled and iced, I was able to arrange them all around the pretty plate.

I had a little icing left over, so I put a tiny spot on some rose petal macaroons I had made with rose water, icing sugar, coconut and egg white (they are always a good standby as they are wheat free). Into each tiny spot of icing I placed a rose bud; they looked so gorgeous I could hardly believe we were in November!

I made another plate of them today so that I could take a photo and then gave them to a dear friend whose birthday it was so that she could enjoy a special birthday treat with her grandchildren Poppy and Sam. Apparently they loved them!

I also created a couple of ice bowls with roses, violets and rosemary and another with marigold flowers, bay leaves and berries. Plus some pretty violet flower ice cubes for violet fizz made with violet liqueur (such a heady perfumed drink, its unbelieveable), and tiny rose petal ice cubes to add to rose 'sparklers' made with rose liqueur and Prosecco. Then, I made a full blown Bloody Mary with rosemary ice cubes, each with a sprig of rosemary each holding an exquisite tiny pale blue flower. Needless to say my guests enjoyed tasting them all!

In the afternoon I joined the group at Elstow Abbey where they enjoyed the tales John Bunyan's younger days.

Mothering Sunday treat

Jonathan and Sarah came home for Mothering Sunday and we invited Hannah Miles and her mum and Mike, and friends John and Jane for afternoon tea.....who ever thought that people don't eat sandwiches, scones, and cakes any more! The simnel cake was a throw back to my childhood when it was alawys a tradition at Easter or Mothering Sunday to have a fruit cake filled with layers of marzipan and then decorated with primrose and maybe violets. Well this time I soaked the fruit in tea for a few hours, then made a marzipan mixture adding violet liqueur, and hey presto it was delicious. We had great fun....a real tea time sharing treat.

Violet vinegar

Some violets are blue, others are white, steeped in a light vinegar you can enjoy the flavour right through the year. Mix with a little oil and you have a dressing fit for a banquet.

Raspberry Ripple

The crew from Gardener's World arrived in July to film our edible flower garden, along with Sarah Raven to present the piece. We had great fun talking about marigolds and dahlias, and all sorts of other edible petals then went inside to create a flowery ice bowl. We filled it with ice cream, mixed with some freshly gathered raspberries and then scattered petunia petals on top, picked from the hanging basket just outside the kitchen door...and the name of the petunia was 'raspberry ripple'. Sadly that bit was never shown on TV but the concept was so neat. We then had to walk to a garden table, about four times to be filmed this way and that, and by then the ice cream had begun to melt and so had the edge of the ice bowl. Must have been one of those few warm summer days...long gone now! Just a happy memory! This ice bowl is one from my book called Edible Flowers and it has rose sorbet inside...delicious!

Violet Jelly

I have so many apples in the orchard and chillies in my containers, and rosemary growing in the borders that I have been making all sorts of jellies...apple and chilly, apple and rosemary, apple chilly and rosemary. Chutney too, yes with chillies and apricots. But, oh dear, I still have lots of apples left, so today I thought I would try and make violet jelly using apple as the base then adding in some violet syrup which I bought from France. It had just reached the setting point when I remembered that I had seen some violets flowering in the garden (odd you might think, but lots of spring flowers like to flaunt themselves a little in autumn too) , so I went on a hunt to find them. I discovered about a dozen, nestling among their leaves, and was able to stir them into the jelly as it cooled. I thought I might freeze some of the extra apple juice and wait until more flowers appear in the spring. Don't know whether it will freeze well or not? Will the pectin content change?

Now violet jelly is great with scones or crumpets; so roll on the weekend!

Edible flower ideas for Houghton

I am demonstrating the use of edible flowers to a gardening group in Houghton on Tuesday evening and have been wondering how best to arrange the evening.

With recipes given to the local enthusiasts, we will have some food already prepared...no two lavender flapjack batches will ever be the same.....different amounts of seeds...pumpkin or sunflower, flavours such as dates and ginger, butter or margarine, sweeteners such as brown or white sugar, honey, size and texture of oats, etc etc will make a difference so will the use of dried or fresh lavender and if its fresh which cultivar will be used; and will it be purple, white or pink. So that will be fun to try out and taste; then there will be lavender scones, and lavender and lemon drizzle cakes. How many different versions of those will be get!

For my part I will show how to create a really tasty chicken dish by using chicken breast rolled in lavender flowers maybe with leaves of tarragon or thyme. Cut into bite size pieces, everyone will be able to try some.


Baked mushrooms with thyme flowers is another idea; scrumptious with some tasty breads and salad; or excellent with roast fish or meat. The fragrance is fantastic! And the best news is that there are lots of thyme flowers in the garden right now so all I have to do is gather them and scatter them on the baked mushrooms at the last minute. Simple and easy!

So with lots of other ideas, involving ice bowls, flowery drinks and soups we should have an exciting evening with a really good exchange of foodie ieas. And the best news is that the group will be sipping violet blinis which taste absolutely divine....it is a mix of violet liqueur with a sparkling wine. Cheers!