I telephoned. “I’ll be out to get some more flowers … No Dad, I don’t need any of the yellow old-fashioned roses or purple iris,” I explained, “I just need to get some more tiny violets.” Dad hoped I’d use the flowers that had been some of Mom’s favorites. For years, they had enjoyed seeing them from the kitchen window at the start of summer.
I was planning a program on edible flowers for garden club. I had already tried to sugar my first cutting of little dogtooth violets I’d snipped from under the trees in Dad’s front yard. Their tiny white blooms had delicate purple stripes on just one of the five petals. I kept them on a wet paper towel in a plastic container in the fridge overnight, but when I painted them with my egg mixture, they had withered from the wear.
The recipe asked for two drops of vodka to be stirred into an egg white beaten till foamy. I had no vodka so I used white rum. The alcohol is in there to aid in evaporation so when you sugar the blooms over the egg mixture, they dry quicker.
The first batch I tried looked too sick to garnish the cupcakes as I’d planned. A program on edible flowers wouldn’t be complete without some kind of bloom for my group to try. I’d make a trip back to Dad’s even though I hated to take the time.
I lightly rinsed a second set of cuttings, patted them dry (no egg white) and set one atop the 7 minute frosting on each French vanilla cupcake. They looked beautiful.
When I ate mine at our meeting, the blossom was barely noticeable as it went down with the cake – so much for a lot of trouble just for effect.
Send in recipes
I’m collecting recipes for the next Farm and Dairy cookbook coming in 2008. Our current cookbook, Made from Back o’ the Box, went so well we’re planning more of the same. I clip many recipes from food packages and I’m hoping you do, too. Share them with us for the new book.
Thanks for your help!
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