Style: February 01, 2019

84 STYLE | food
FOOD TRENDS:
EDIBLE FLOWERS
Vanessa Ortynsky catches up with Marion Smith to discover
a growing world of colour and beauty.
Eating our greens is something most of us do every day. Not to mention,
we’d be lost without the tastes and textures of fruit. Yet somehow, over
the years, using flowers in our food and drinks has waned in popularity.
In ancient Chinese and Roman cultures, flowers were frequently used in
cooking, with a resurgence in the 1970s. Fortunately, edible flowers have
once again become popular in Canterbury and throughout the country
with many chefs and bakers, and sometimes bartenders, incorporating their
unique flavours into dishes of all kinds.
Marion Smith is an edible flower
grower who, in 2017, created
Petal & Co (petalandco.nz). Her
aim was to provide chefs and
bakers in Christchurch and North
Canterbury with access to local,
fresh, edible flowers and leaves –
and she’s growing strong.
Her flowers are grown and
harvested at her home, just 20
minutes north of Christchurch,
where they grow naturally in
compost-rich soil for optimum
flavour and longevity.
LK Carlton
Image: Malia Rose Photography
DEFINITION
A flower is ‘edible’ if it ticks a
couple of boxes. Of course, it
must be intrinsically non-toxic
and cannot have been exposed
to anything toxic (e.g. poisonous
sprays). Attractive in colour, taste
varies from mildly floral (violas),
to savoury (nasturtium) to sweet
and intense (lavender and roses).
Some will have fragrance, but
not all. Lots of flowers can be
used whole (e.g. pansies, violas,
campanulas) but with most it’s
best to pluck off the petals and
add these to the dish.