When you walk into The Philadelphia Flower Show fresh scents, clean air and the sound of bee’s just seem to take over. All five of your senses are instantly awake: Sight, Hearing, Taste, Touch, and Smell.
Enclosed in a glass container to showcase the value of insects to plants are the beautiful bees that make this possible. When we see flowers, we don’t typically think of them as food, nutrients or antioxidants, but they are. Flowers, particularly those with deep colors, are natural antioxidants, and the pollen the bees bring to each plant helps fend off allergies.
Many of the merchants highlighted beautiful landscaping designs – with an emphasis on creating green gardens that include hardscaping, soil, sculpture and eco-friendly plants.
Many flowers in a green garden are actually edible. These flowers are enjoyed more abundantly in the spring and summer months. They have the added bonus of making any dish attractive and magical. Blossoms that make good eye candy in your desserts and meals include Pansy, Rose, Squash Blossoms, Dahlia, Orchid, and Marigold.
Of course, not everyone is keen on cooking with flowers. One easy way to start introducing edible flowers into your meals is with a dessert that has petals as part of its ingredients.
Remember – only eat edible flowers that are confirmed edible!
Here’s a great tasting recipe with edible flowers – Rose Curd and White Peach Tart Recipe that has been adapted from Food Above Gold.
Ingredients:
1 roll of sugar cookie dough (refrigerated – not frozen)
Rose Curd – 10 egg yolks, ½ cup of granulated sugar, 1 lemon zested and juiced, 1 stick of butter (cut in TBLS – keep chilled), red food coloring (optional)
7 white peaches peeled and sliced
1.5 tbsp of peach jam
¼ cup of rose petals
Baking Instructions: Preheat oven to 350
Tart Crust – roll out your sugar cookie dough and place it in your tart pan – bake for 20 min
While your sugar cookie tart is baking, gather your rose curd ingredients and do the following:
Put 3 inches of water in the bottom of a pot and bring to a simmer. Find a glass bowl that will rest on top of your simmering pot of water and whisk the egg yolks with the sugar, lemon zest, and lemon. Whisk until the egg yolks are light yellow – about 3 min. Now whisk another 8 min until the curd is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Add 1 tbsp of rose petals to the water and then add the rose water and food coloring.
Remove the curd from heat and whisk in, one at a time, the cold tablespoons of butter until all are melted and combined. Remove from heat and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Assembling Tart:
Pour your Rose Curd into the cooled sugar cookie tart. Cover and refrigerate for 45 min. Remove from the fridge – arrange the slices of peaches around the edge. Overlap slightly to create a petal-like pattern. You should have three circled layers of peaches around the edge of the tart.
Melt the peach jam and brush lightly over the peaches. Scatter the rose petals over the rest of the tart and serve.
As they say in Nawlins, “Prenons du bon temps.” (Let the good times roll!)
Visit us at Beck’s Cajun Café – we’re right around the corner from the flower show located in the Reading Terminal Market. You can also visit our other location at 30th Street Station (aka the Amtrak Station). We’d be delighted to fill your bellies with some home cooked Cajun and Creole food.
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