It’s all the fashion now to adorn food with flowers and on the Garden Route this trend has really taken off everywhere.
You will find flowers on food at wine farms, at local restaurants and five-star eateries, but testament to growing demand for edible flowers is the story of Khiza Farm.
During the Covid-19 lockdown Anthony Rau and his partner, Herman Bosman, gave up their corporate jobs and swapped the city for their Rheenendal farm.
Khiza (meaning soft drizzle in Zulu) grows vegetables and herbs for the region, but also more than half of its farming now is invested in flowers, edible and ornamental.
Its edible flowers are stocked in supermarkets on the Garden Route area and Khiza has a stall at the popular Sedgefield Wild Oats Market every Saturday.
Rau says what they call their cottage garden flowers are very popular with locals as they are packaged in edible bouquets.
From fynbos flowers to sunflowers, they grow the whole gamut.
Rau says a fabulous array of flowers come from herb and vegetable plants.
Who would have known that lettuce produces a very dainty flower, as do the blossoms on herbs from rosemary to sage and the rest of the herb family?
I recently tried to grow onions and leeks and the only yield I ever saw from this effort were the flowers because the plants apparently “bolted”, which happens when the crop prematurely grows stalks and seeds.
The onion flowers smelt very potent, but they were quite majestic.
The Khiza guys grow a huge variety of edible flowers from calendula, to dianthus and the stunning blue cornflowers.
Rau says that now more than ever it is fashionable to use flowers to decorate confectionery like wedding cakes — with an ever-growing demand from restaurants to dicky-up their presentation of dishes with blossoms.
Khiza also plans to open to the public and have a pick-your-own-flower day.
Rau also intends to open a stall on the farm, selling flowers, vegetables and herbs.
A wine and food pairing/tasting at Luka Vineyards in Plettenberg Bay is a splendid example of how flowers enhance all dishes.
Owner Laura Harvey uses organic vegetables, salad leaves and herbs fresh from the garden.
But she also gets the very important edible flowers from her neighbouring farmer.
Luka’s Chef Richie, as he is known, plates his treats with viola, borage, pineapple, sage, dianthus, marigold, dahlia, pak choi and thyme and a host of flowers from herbs.
Richie uses the blooms for aesthetic purposes and also for their distinctive tastes.
“Flowers have different flavours and should always complement the food,” Richie says.
Do diners actually eat them?
Richie says everybody enjoys the visual display, diners definitely smell them — and some taste them.
Louis Jansen, head chef of the five-star Hunter Hotels in Plettenberg Bay, loves using flowers in his delectable concoctions and he sources his blossoms from local shops like Woolies and Food Lovers, among other retail outlets, which now sell these edible bouquets.
Jansen says: “Flowers add that elegant touch and enhance taste.”
His favourites are the bright blue cornflowers, but they also come in such beautiful hues that using them spruces up any dish, he says.
Honeybush, which grows on the estate, brings a tang of sweetness to many dishes, and bright purple geranium flowers liven up a plate.
“And one I use a lot is the flower from wild garlic.
“It’s a pretty little white flower with quite a potent taste, so I usually combine it with recipes that have cumin in them — and it goes beautifully with mushrooms,” Jansen says.
Though flowers in food is now all the rage, this practice goes back thousands of years.
Chinese cooks were experimenting with edible flowers as far back at 3,000 BC and the ancient Romans used violets and roses in their food as well as lavender in sauces.
Now that the flowers on food are de rigueur there is every reason for us all to use them, so here is the lowdown on what you can eat straight from your garden.
Roses are one of the well-known edible chaps.
Add the petals to tea or jams or add generous handfuls to make a cake look stunning.
Most of us know about the cheerful little marigolds which keep pests away in a veggie garden, but which also offer a bittersweet taste in food.
Anise hyssops are delicate little flowers with a kind of liquorice flavour, so they can be sprinkled on ice-cream and desserts or in a salad.
A zucchini blossom in all its yellow splendour goes with most things.
The butterfly pea is a vibrant purple colour which can be used as a dye (put it in icing) or boil it to get a purple liquid which is ideal for infusing cakes or teas, instead of artificial food colouring.
Violets in white and purple are historically placed in and about desserts.
A pansy isn’t just a happy little flower in the garden, it can be popped into all sorts of dishes.
Dahlia, hibiscus, honeysuckle, magnolia and nasturtium can be eaten. Camellia is used as a garnish or dried and used in Asian cuisine.
For those who are not seasoned gardeners, refer to Thompson and Morgan, who call themselves experts in the garden since 1855.
They list the edible flowers, but also those which are poisonous.
Daffodils, poppy, foxglove, oleander (one of the most toxic plants), clematis, bluebell, rhododendron, larkspur and hydrangea are dangerous.
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