Appears in
Oxford Companion to Food

By Alan Davidson

Published 2014

  • About

flowers the source of honey, have numerous culinary uses, as explained below.

Many common flowers are edible (although some are toxic). Historically, the use of flowers in food shows the links between confectionery, pharmacy, and perfumery. The skill of the confectioner would be required to preserve flowers—such as roses—considered to have medicinal virtues; the resulting confection would have the pleasant side effect of perfuming the breath when eaten. When and where the preservation of flowers began is not known, although the Islamic world, with a love of flowers and a working knowledge of sugar confectionery, probably played a part. Perry (1993) quotes Moorish recipes from the 13th century requiring syrup flavoured with rosewater.