Bite-sized dark chocolate truffles, lightly coated in a rainbow of powders — cocoa powder, powdered sugar and powdered candied rose petals or lilacs — rested on a clean white plate adorned by a curvy drizzle of mint syrup, nubby bits of candied lilac and a single mint leaf.
At first bite, the truffles coated in rose powder offered delicate but noticeable hints of rose essence before giving way to the richness of the smooth chocolate. In the others — those coated with powdered lilacs — the lilac was less pronounced, with the floral notes arriving at the end of the bite, rather than from the start.
If you’ve ever wondered how to wow your guests at your next soiree, take note: Sending around plates of tender seared scallops dripping with a deep purple hibiscus syrup or wild salmon topped with vibrant pickled orchid petals might just do the trick. And if that doesn’t work, send in the truffles.
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You might think there’s an art to cooking and eating flowers, but as Greg Haley will demonstrate, it’s no different from cooking with common herbs and spices.
Haley is the chef de cuisine at Amuse Restaurant, located within the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. His restaurant’s menu routinely includes dishes that are infused with, adorned by or otherwise made with all sorts of flowers or flowering plants, from hibiscus and rose petals to orchids and arugula blossoms.
But to highlight the museum’s biennial floral celebration of the arts, Fine Arts & Flowers, which runs Oct. 20-23, Haley will lead a demonstration called “Edible Flowers” on Thursday, Oct. 20, at the museum. Fine Arts & Flowers presents dozens of floral interpretations of works from some of VMFA’s permanent collections.
This is the third time Haley has conducted the demonstration and tasting event, and a sneak peek earlier this month of what Haley has planned revealed that flowers can be added to syrups, or pickled and candied and used in all sorts of dishes, from seafood to dessert. (Spoiler alert: His five-course menu for “Edible Flowers” includes shrimp with pickled flowers, duck pâté with African blue basil and an arugula blossom salad, his chocolate rose truffles and more.)
In the Amuse kitchen, as the afternoon lunch crowd tapered off and things slowed a bit, Haley got to work showing off a few examples of how to cook with edible flowers, which, he said, come from a variety of sources. He said the most important rule when cooking with edible flowers is to make sure they’re safe to eat. Unless you’re growing them yourself, he said, and you know that they’re free of pesticides and other toxic chemicals, make sure to buy them from reputable sources that use only organic growing methods. Online retailers also come in handy, he said, particularly heading into fall and winter months when many edible flowers aren’t in season locally.
Starting on his first dish, Haley steeped hibiscus petals in boiling water and, after straining out the petals, the flower water was combined with sugar and left to simmer and thicken. The result was a dark, sweet syrup with floral notes that would pair well with seafood and meats, such as lamb, he said. In this case, he drizzled the dark syrup around a plate of buttery seared scallops on a bed of sliced sweet potatoes, Swiss chard and farro.
If colors had a flavor, he said jokingly, this syrup would prove it.
“I think it tastes like purple,” Haley said with a grin.
Next up were purple orchids, which he noted are hearty and can withstand a lot of cooking methods. To make a mild pickled garnish for his fresh fish of the day, he picked the petals off the flower and placed them in a container with sliced red onion, which he then combined with seasoned rice wine vinegar and cloves, vanilla bean, coriander seeds, allspice and sugar. Letting it sit overnight would intensify the flavors without overpowering the floral orchid petals, adding complexity to the dish, he said. On this day, Haley added the orchid garnish to salmon, which was accompanied by Chinese black rice, Brussels sprouts and parsnip purée.
Lastly, the chocolate truffles. Haley scooped out little balls of chilled chocolate and dropped them into a large mixing bowl filled with cocoa powder, powdered sugar and the powdered flowers.
“I like to find recipes that I think are feasible for the home cook,” he said.
Flowers and flowering plants shouldn’t just be used as decorative garnishes, Haley said, but also thoughtfully considered as part of the flavor profiles for sweet and savory dishes alike.
“They have a variety of flavors — some of them can be quite spicy (and) others are floral and sweet,” he said. “It’s wherever your mind will take you.”