Candied flowers - edible flowers or petals of edible flowers, preserved in sugar syrup or sugar . Used to decorate cakes , desserts , as a component of fruit salads and as an independent dessert.
Content
History
The use of edible flowers in confectionery comes from Arab countries. Flowers were used to make sorbet , syrups, flower water . Making candied fruit (candied fruit) was the traditional way of harvesting in the Middle East . Gulkand delicacies made from crushed flowers mixed with sugar were also prepared here. The first mention of flowers in the confectionery industry in Europe dates back to the 11th century : jam and jams were prepared from roses and violets. In the XVII-XVIII centuries imitation of fresh flowers, skillfully made from caramel and aromatized with floral essence, came into fashion. With the participation of sugar flowers, whole sculptural compositions were created. At the same time, interest in fresh flowers as an ingredient for confectionery was revived. The cookbook describes a recipe for making candied roses using rose water boiled sugar syrup. The book also contained a more exotic method of sugar candling roses, according to which the flowers should be watered with sugar syrup, even when they were on a rose bush [1] .
Candied roses, violets and orange tree flowers have become so popular that their production has taken on an industrial scale. In order for candied flowers to look good and be stored for a long time, they must be collected at night or at dawn and processed for several hours after collection. Therefore, enterprises producing sweet flowers were located near traditional floriculture areas, mainly in Spain , in the south of France and north-west of Italy [1] .
According to a recipe patented in 1906, Pietro Romanengo fu Stefano , founded in 1780 in Genoa , still produces candied rose petals. According to the recipe, the petals are boiled for some time in sugar syrup, which leads to a loss of color, so they are sprinkled with sugar, tinted with food colors [1] .
For the industrial production of whole violet flowers, they use fragrant violet and Parma violet . The manufacturing technology of candied violets from Italy was brought to Toulouse (France). At the beginning of the XX century, in the vicinity of Toulouse, there were about 400 farms that grow violets. Numerous confectioners did not lack raw materials. Since then, candied violets are called "Toulouse violets" [2] . Under the brand name La Violette de Toulouse candied violets are produced by Candiflor [1] , which also offers whole candied roses, lilac flowers and other types of flowers.
Candied orange tree flowers ( orange blossom ) were popular as a wedding attribute in Italy. Subsequently, they were replaced by simulations made of sugar mastic with orange blossom water [1] .
Edible Flowers
Flowers intended for sugaring should be obtained from known sources that do not use chemicals in their cultivation [3] . Flowers should be healthy, not damaged by insects and freshly blossomed. The best time to pick flowers is in the early morning [4] .
For confectionery purposes, they recommend roses, violets, orange blossom and apple flowers, marigolds , lilacs, acacia , mimosa , chrysanthemums , cloves , daffodils , jasmine , borage , rosemary and others, as well as leaves of mint , barberry , strawberry , oregano , linden , black currant , angelica , dreams and other plants [1] [5] .
Manufacturing
In the process of sugaring, sugar penetrates into the tissues of the flower, radically changing its texture and taste, while the appearance, following the technology, remains almost unchanged. The flower really becomes a fragrant treat.
Candied flowers are prepared in many ways. In the process of coding, as a result of osmotic penetration through the cell membrane, sugar enters the cells of the flower. This method is suitable for sugaring petals, which are completely immersed in hot thick syrup [1] [3] . For the sugaring of whole flowers, the crystallization technique is used ( fr. Praliner - coated with caramel) [1] .
At home, flowers are smeared manually with egg white using a soft art brush and sprinkled with fine crystalline sugar [1] . Egg white protects the flower from bacteria and plays the role of an adhesive that fixes sugar on the surface of the flower until it is absorbed into the tissue [3] . Instead of egg white, you can use corn syrup flavored with vanilla or almond extract, in which case the flower is sprinkled with powdered sugar [6] . Gum arabic diluted in water can be used as a sticky substance, fixing it with a layer of sugar syrup [5] . Large flowers of a dark color and lemon flowers can be brushed with a thin layer of protein, whipped with icing sugar, and a dull surface is obtained [4] .
Sprinkled with sugar flowers are dried in the air for 1-4 days or for several hours in an oven or dryer for vegetables. Well-dried flowers can be stored in boxes, arranged with paper, for up to one year at room temperature [7] [4] , in a refrigerator or freezer [6] .
Usage
Candied flowers are used to decorate cakes, pastries , desserts, snacks. Candied roses decorate wedding cakes. Sweet pea flowers are great for canapes with salmon [4] . Candied flowers can be frozen in a mold for ice and served with drinks [8] .
Withered daylily flowers, boiled in sugar syrup with lemon juice and dried at room temperature, can be eaten as an independent confectionery [9] .
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Grimes W. Candied flowers // The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets / Goldstein D. .. - Oxford University Press, 2015.
- ↑ Violet of Toulouse . French trip.
- ↑ 1 2 3 Harold McGee. Food and Cooking . - revised and updated edition. - NY: Scribner, 2004 .-- S. 326—327. - 884 s. - ISBN 1-4165-5637-0 .
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 Creasy R. Camdied flowers // Rosalind Creasy's Recipes from the Garden . - Tuttle Publishing, 2015 .-- P. 193. - 208 p. - ISBN 978-08048-3768-2 .
- ↑ 1 2 Knyazeva T. P. Candied flowers // Handbook of the gardener and gardener . - OLMA Media Group, 2013 .-- S. 148-149. - 256 s. - ISBN 978-5-373-01706-0 .
- ↑ 1 2 Other Uses of Edible Flowers // Llewellyn's Herbal Almanac Cookbook: A Collection of the Best Culinary Articles and Recipes . - Llewellyn Worldwide, 2015 .-- 384 p. - ISBN 9780738746906 .
- ↑ Crystallized Candied Edible Flowers . What's Cooking America.
- ↑ Candied violets // About the kitchen / “Arguments and Facts”. - 2015. - No. 6 (81). - S. 47.
- ↑ Poskrebysheva G.I. Candied daylily flowers // The latest culinary encyclopedia . - M ,: OLMA Media Group, 2006. - S. 214-215. - 224 p. - ISBN 5-224-04360-3 .