Candied flower petals are a beautiful decoration for cakes and cookies. The recipe involves dipping petals in egg whites and sugar, but caution should be taken with raw eggs. Only use organic, pesticide-free flowers and avoid poisonous ones. Roses are commonly used, but other small edible flowers can be used too.
Candied flower petals are a beautiful way to decorate a cake, add sparkle to cookies, or just to display on a platter. Alternatively, they may be called crystallized flower petals, and the main recipes you’ll see for these almost invariably use rose petals. You can actually use the petals of all small edible flowers, and some flowers can be candied altogether, such as nasturtiums. Most flowers will taste very similar to smell; hence rose-based candied flowers have a distinct rose flavor.
When choosing flowers for candied flower petals, you need to keep a couple of things in mind. First, your flowers should be free from bugs or bruises. They won’t look good when bruised, and you don’t want to present your guests with candy aphids or ants. Also, many people treat their flowers regularly with pesticides. These should be avoided. Look instead for organic flowers, particularly in the produce section, for candied flower petals.
Making candied flower petals is simple. Simply wash the petals, let them dry, and dip them in a beaten egg white. They are then dipped in sugar and dried overnight. This crystallizes the sugar, resulting in a hardened petal. You’re using raw egg whites for this recipe, so there’s a slight risk of giving guests Salmonella when you prepare them. For this reason, you should use pasteurized eggs, which won’t harbor bacteria.
This is largely unnecessary if you’re planning on serving candied flower petals for decoration only. If you really want to go wild and decorate a cake with candy flowers, you could make frosting flowers to add to a cake instead. Many people find the risk of Salmonella to be extremely minimal and don’t care one way or the other for egg white precautions. If you have immune deficiencies, you may want to avoid candied flower petals or make sure the ones you eat are made with pasteurized eggs.
There are a number of edible flowers you can try for candied flower petals. These include:
Citrus flowers
Dandelion
English Daisy
Fuchsia
Gardenia
Gladiolo
hibiscus
jasmine
Leon’s mouth
Pumpkin Flower
Viola
You should especially avoid poisonous flowers such as foxglove (digital foxglove), oleander, most lilies, crocuses, and morning glory. Even if you only mean these flowers for decoration, they could still be viewed as food with tragic results. Only prepare candied flower petals with flowers that you know are free of pesticide treatments and completely safe to eat.
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