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Feasting on Flowers
| Article
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11780 |
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Section : |
LIFE
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| Issue
Date : |
4 / 1987 |
1,582 Words |
| Author
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Rosemary G. Rennicke
Rosemary G. Rennicke is a freelance writer from Buckingham,
Pennsylvania, who specializes in interior design and antiques. |
When your dear maiden aunt, Milly, munched on dainty sandwiches of rose-petal jam and sipped golden chamomile tea, it was quaint. And when she nipped on dandelion wine occasionally, well, it wasn't Chateau Lafite, but the homemade brew offered its own potent charm.
Flower foods aren't merely quaint or charming anymore. In fact, the incredible edible blossoms of roses, pansies, chrysanthemums, basil, nasturtiums, and many others are crowding trendy arugula et al. out of the garden of haute chic. Dinning rooms across the country, from Wolfgang's puckish Spago to the stately Capital Hilton Hotel, are moving flowers from the centerpiece to the serving plate.
The current rage for eating flowers is not something cooked up by evangelizing vegetarians or fad-crazy Californians, though that state's restaurateurs and farmers have contributed considerably to its acceptance. Flower cuisine is at least as old as ancient Greece and Rome, where roses and violets were brewed into wines, syrups, and scented waters. One Roman recipe from 100B.C. described a type of pie made from eggs, calves brains, and rose petals. For centuries thereafter, a varied bouquet of flowers - from agrimony to yarrow -has been candied and pickled, baked into puddings and tossed into salads, and turned into fritters, sauces, liqueurs, and jams.
Old Oriental cultures cultivated day lilies as a food and sedative, concocted teas from peony and lotus, and fried chrysanthemums. North American Indians were fond of sweetish elder flowers as salad greens. Seeds and rinds from the native American squash have been discovered in ruins dating from 2,000 B.C., leaving little doubt that squash flowers were among the continent's earliest foods.
While flowers in these ancient civilizations were appreciated for their beauty, it was their culinary and medicinal value that made them indispensable. With fewer ingredients and seasonings available to them, our ancestors relied on edible and herbal flowers for flavor. The strictly ornamental flower garden is a comparatively recent phenomenon; gardeners of yesteryear made no distinction between vegetables, herbs, and edible flowers in their gardens.
In the magical, mystical Middle Ages, flower foods were attributed with all manner of powers. If one wanted to see fairies, a draft of wild thyme, hollyhocks and marigolds was called for. Old English herbalists prescribed cowslips to cure apparitions, frenzies, and convulsions. An infusion of borage
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