Thursday, 05 April 2012

• Flowers, Flowers, Everywhere!: 6 Innovative Flowery Sweets

  
  
  Nowadays, I find myself struggling through my closet every morning to find something suitable for this fickle New York weather. But still, the sun doesn't seem to betray me nor do the white blossoms in full bloom that sway and flutter in the wind.
  
  Needless to say, Spring in here in New York city. And with it, it's brought us bouquets of flowers streaming down the streets. 
  
  While they may simply be pretty to look at, flowers are in fact great when incorporated into sweets. It may be tough dealing with these delicate ingredients, but they do a wondrous job in transforming your food to a delicate work of art. 
  
  So to celebrate the season of spring, I've gathered a collection of innovative and beautiful floral sweets below 
  
  1. Floral Macarons
  
  
  
  
  To begin with, there is the ever-so-popular Rose macaron (and yes, I say that with the French R, which sounds more like hose with a silent purring r in front). 
  
  Nowadays, they really seem to be going full out with a variety of new flavors for macarons. There's also lavender, which seems less widely known, and they even incorporate hibiscus into the batter of the macaron like in the picture above. 
  
  mushitza: These folks did a cool job at making a recipe for hibiscus macaron!
  
  2. Sakura (cherry blossom) Sweets
  
  In Japan, where there is an abundance of cherry blossoms, people use them in a variety of ways from pickling the buds to drying them.
  Nowadays, cherry blossoms are used in a variety of Japanese sweets from cookies to cream puffs, macarons, to sugared sakura. 
  
  
  She Who Eats: This beautiful blog by Chika gives you a variety of ways to use cherry blossoms in your sweets!
  
  3. Rose Water Sweets
  
  
  I find that a lot of Turkish and Persian sweets use rose water. They're also found a lot in Indian sweets, where the rose water is infused into their milk protein sweets. I've made the Persian fried batter covered in rose water syrup, and their rose water Turkish delights before, which are to die for.
  
  
  Nowadays, it seems like people are finding a variety of ways to use rose water in their sweets, such as in sherbets, cakes, parfaits, etc.
  
  Have you tried rose water sweets before? If not, you should really try them. Seriously.
  
  4. Floral Biscotti
  
  
  Lavender Biscotti and Orange Flower Biscotti seem to be the most popular when it comes to flower-infused biscotti.
  
  But because this requires you to put the ingredient in the batter, I think it's perfect if you are struggling from finding nice looking, fresh flowers. You can use dried flower instead, which is usually the form in which lavender is sold, right?
  
  5. Flower Lollipops
  
  
  
  Never tried these before, but I found these while I was searching through images. I'm not quite sure if I'll get any floral flavors from it, but it would make a great gift!
  
  6. Edible Flower Decorations
  
  
   And of course, the simplest way to incorporate flowers into sweets is really to just use it in your decorations.
  
  
  The edible flower industry is blooming, it seems. When I went to this year's International Restaurant Show, they were displaying a variety of edible flowers. 
  
  Some were dried flat, which did an amazing job at preserving the beautiful colors of the flowers, and some were crystallized, which preserved the flower's shape perfectly. The only thing I didn't like about this method was that it left a dark tint on the flowers, which could potentially seem unappetizing. 
  
  
  You can also make crystallized flowers yourself! Click here for the recipe
  
  I imagine that some will not quite like the sound of some of these floral sweets. Sadly, we tend to associate rose and lavender scents more with our hands, rather with our food. This seems to be an inevitable result of the excessive use of their scent in our hand lotions and soaps.
  
  But in fact, floral scents and flavors have always been used in foods in many other societies, as in the case of rose water. It's really a matter of what we are used to, isn't it? 
  
  
  In addition, my suggestion is that these floral desserts would go beautifully with floral teas such as rosehips, chamomile, chrysanthemum, and jasmine tea. Or if you really want to go full out, try using those flowering teas (as in the above picture). They would make a great addition to your floral party. 
  
  Would you like to try any of these? Have you Tried flower infused desserts before?
  What are your thoughts on eating flowers?
  

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