General Information
Flower cookery has been traced back to Roman times, and to the Chinese, Middle Eastern, and Indian cultures. Edible flowers were especially popular in the Victorian era during Queen Victoria’s reign.
Today, many restaurant chefs and innovative home cooks garnish their entrees with flower blossoms for a touch of elegance.
The secret to success when using edible flowers is to keep the dish simple, do not add to many other flavors that will overpower the delicate taste of the flower. Today this nearly lost art is enjoying a revival.
The Renaissance cook did not confine flowers to vases. In the fourteenth century, peony roots were deemed a food fit exclusively for kings. Carnations and dianthus were so important that an entire book was written about them. Tansie, a type of sweet omelet, could be colored purple with violets or yellow with cowslips and marigolds.
History
North American Indians integrated leaves and flowers of many plants into their foods.
