Sylvia's Simple Life: edible flowers

edible flowers

In a never-ending summer day, put me in a lavender field, especially one that has a yellow door in the middle and I will become Alice – curious, carefree, venturing to drink the bottle, eat the cake, shrink like a telescope and walk through the door in the hope of a fantastic adventure... Put me in a lavender field and the world becomes a sweet tale.

Lavender, brimming with its simple fragrance and pretty purple hue that so many of us love, is, in my opinion, one of the most enchanting herbs. Thanks to the people of Pine-Sol and Terre Bleu Lavender Farm, who hosted a lovely event about the fragrant industry, this August I've been given a chance of walking through the last flowers of the large fields of lavender. If you wandered onto this resplendent property, you might never know you were just outside of a big hectic city; instead, you would rather feel the charming countryside atmosphere of Provence or Tuscany. However, Terre Bleu is the most beautiful organic working family farm in Ontario that grows eight varieties of lavender under the northern climate and produces a range of handmade products – essential oil, soaps, macarons... Certainly, the best place to learn about flavors and fragrances. The best place to enjoy al fresco lunch full of savor and style from the salmon with sorrel sauce, to the lemon tart, lavender ice cream and of course, lavender lemonade. I also explored the distillery where 200 pounds of fresh lavender is broken down to make 500ml of pure essential oil. I met the honeybees that pollinate the lavender plants from which the pure premium lavender honey is extracted. I crossed an enchanting forest only to discover a yellow bench awaiting to hug me... I uncovered myself in the near-finished oil painting of an artist who was working surrounded by sunflowers somewhere in a distance almost unnoticed.

I was slowly going back to my happy place, one that I have been struggling to find this entire summer. I was gently invited to stop, breath and smell... ~~the roses~~ the lavender... the world...the life...

I was Alice, "in a Wonderland I lie, Dreaming as the days go by, Dreaming as the summer die."

And most importantly, I went through the yellow door in the middle of the purple sea assured by the words of the owners' 10-year-old daughter that "when I walk through the door, my worries are behind me, my joys are ahead."

I believed that little girl.

August just melted as a purple lavender ice cream. A new season is coming and I am excited. I hope for peacefulness, simple pleasures, sweet tales and happy places for all of us. Our worries behind us, our joys are ahead.

August 31, 2016
edible flowers

Lavender Fields Forever

I was Alice, "in a Wonderland I lie, Dreaming as the days go by, Dreaming as the summer die."

I believed that little girl.

" If in our daily lives we can smile, if we can be peaceful and happy, not only we, but everyone will profit from it. If we really know how to live, what better way to start the day than with a smile? Our smile affirms our awareness and determination to live in peace and joy. The source of our true smile is an awakened mind. Smiling helps you approach the day with gentleness and understanding.

When I see someone smile, I know immediately that he or she is dwelling in awareness.

Our smile will bring happiness to us and to those around us. Even if we spend a lot of money on gifts for everyone in our family, nothing we buy could give them such happiness as the gift of our awareness, our smile. And this precious gift cost nothing. At the end of a retreat in California, a friend wrote this poem:

I have lost my smile,

but don't worry.

The dandelion has it.

If you have lost your smile and yet are still capable of seeing that dandelion is keeping it for you, the situation is not too bad. You still have enough mindfulness to see that the smile is there. The dandelion is one member of your community of friends. It is there, quite faithful, keeping your smile for you.

In fact, everything around you is keeping your smile for you. You don't need to feel isolated. You only have to open yourself to the support that is all around you, and in you. Like the friend who saw that her smile was being kept by the dandelion, you can breath in awareness, and your smile will return".

Thach Nhat Nanh "Peace Is Every Step"

You would love these dandelion flower cookies. The dandelion is not an usual addition to a dish, yet with its honeylike taste and earthy texture, dandelion blossom makes for delicious cookies, muffins and cakes. The molasses and the dried apricots blend perfectly with all spices and dash of vanilla. Dandelion cookies with glass of milk or tea are the perfect treat for every part of the day. Fun to bake especially with your kids, they will certainly make you smile.

More about the dandelion flower here.

Dandelion Flower Cookies
(recipe from the book "Cooking with Flowers" By M. Bacher; makes about 16 normal sized cookies)

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/3 cups oats
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. allspice
1/2 ( 1 stick) cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 tbsp. molasses
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 egg
1 cup dandelion petals
100gr. dried apricots, chopped in small dice

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, stir to combine flour, oats, baking soda and allspice.
Beat butter, sugar, molasses, and vanilla until smooth and light in colour. Add egg and beat until fluffy incorporated.
Blend dry ingredients, dandelion petals and apricots into butter mixture and mix just enough so that any streak of flour disappear.
Scoop small bolls of batter 2 inches apart onto prepared baking sheets. Bake until the cookies have spread but still flexible, about 12 minutes.

* The dandelion is generally considered safe in food; however some people may have allergic reactions to it. Gather dandelion flowers from areas free of chemical treatments or fertilizer. Pick in a sunny part of the day, so the flower are fully open and prepare right away. Once picked, they do not last long.

What keeps your smile for you these days?

Sharing with Tickle My Tastebuds Tuesday

May 26, 2015
edible flowers

Dandelion Cookies

When I see someone smile, I know immediately that he or she is dwelling in awareness.

I have lost my smile,

but don't worry.

The dandelion has it.

Thach Nhat Nanh "Peace Is Every Step"

What keeps your smile for you these days?

Sharing with Tickle My Tastebuds Tuesday

"Every day I see or hear something that more or less kills me with delight, that leaves me like a needle in the haystack of light.

It was what I was born for – to look, to listen, to lose myself inside this soft world – to instruct myself over and over in joy, and acclamation.

Nor am I talking about the exceptional, the fearful, the dreadful, the very extravagant – but of the ordinary, the common, the very drab, the daily presentations.

Oh, good scholar, I say to myself, how can you help but grow wise with such teachings as these – the untrimmable light of the world, the ocean's shine, the prayers that made out of grass?" Mary Oliver

My mornings smell like lilac these days. The sweet pleasant fragrance comes with every current of the gentle wind. With every breath I inhale the granny's perfume, the words of a poem, the passion of my youthful lilac nights and the shelter of my grandparents' garden. Every breath exhaled brings forth a sense of warmth, safeness and gratitude. My mornings these days make my heart grow tender. The tiny lilac petals help me recognize the preciousness and fragility of each new minute. It always amazes me when Nature and my mind work together, when I am able to stop and pay attention to nature's simple beauty and allow it to transform my thoughts. These real and essential "daily presentations" teach me to give myself a choice to see the world differently, feel the joy of life and find possibilities in seemingly impossible realms. I do NOT know the answers and techniques to freeing our minds of confusions and leading meaningful lives. But I try every morning to wake up and look for Life, not for its meaning and purpose, but – life, the everyday one, the ordinary one, the one in me. My life. Messy as my morning table. Imperfect as my custard tart. I try every morning to wake up and live it all even when I feel like not leaving the bed. Sometimes it is easy, sometimes not so. Sometimes it is enough, but other times I have to push myself to end the monologue in my head, to awaken for what is out there and to believe in nature's wisdom and life's surprises. To live it all, or in other words, to nourish the soul, I have to simply be, here and now, aware of the moment and focusing the mind on what is nurturing – how to smile at the sun, how to hear in silence, how to feel the hot running water cleaning my body, how to say good morning with love, accept a kind word, laugh genuinely or cry softly, listen without judging, how to care for a child, to thank a stranger, to smell the freshly-cut grass, to notice the lilac... Then my days become sweet as the lilac syrup, fragrant as the lilac sugar because on such mornings, while encountering the life with its "daily presentations", I make the extra effort to "put lilac flowers in them".

Lilac Syrup
(makes approximately 500 ml; adapted from the book Cooking With Flowers)

Ingredients:

2 cups water
3 cups lilac blossoms
1/2 cup sugar
3 tbs. blueberries (optional, for color)

Directions:

Place lilac blossoms in a bowl and pour boiling water over them. Let stand for at least 2 hours or overnight. Over medium heat, bring berries to a simmer along with sugar and lilac water. Cook and stir mixture for 4-5 minutes. Remove from heat and pour through a fine mesh strainer into a glass container. Discard berries and lilac solid. Refrigerate for up to 1 month. Use in drink mixes, over sorbets, ice cream and fruit salad. Drink it as a cold drink with a couple of ice cubes.

You can find the recipe for lilac-scented sugar here. For especially vibrant lilac sugar, grind sugar with lilac flowers in a food processor until pulverized. 1/2 cup flowers per 1 cup sugar.

Which "daily presentations" do you enjoy and appreciate these days?

Sharing at Sundays at Home/ Share Your Style/ Home Sweet Home

May 22, 2015
edible flowers

Lilac Mornings

"Every day I see or hear something that more or less kills me with delight, that leaves me like a needle in the haystack of light.

It was what I was born for – to look, to listen, to lose myself inside this soft world – to instruct myself over and over in joy, and acclamation.

Nor am I talking about the exceptional, the fearful, the dreadful, the very extravagant – but of the ordinary, the common, the very drab, the daily presentations.

You can find the recipe for lilac-scented sugar here. For especially vibrant lilac sugar, grind sugar with lilac flowers in a food processor until pulverized. 1/2 cup flowers per 1 cup sugar.

Which "daily presentations" do you enjoy and appreciate these days?

Sharing at Sundays at Home/ Share Your Style/ Home Sweet Home

Ever since I saw the first yellow, sun-like flower of the season, I was sure I am going to cook with it.
This plant, a bothersome weed for those who want a luscious and perfect like a golf course lawn, is a tasty edible flower, a nutrient-dense green believed to be some of the oldest plants on the planet. Throughout history, the dandelion has been known as super food, herbal medicine and delicious, sunshine-filled drink. Remember Ray Bradbury's novel "Dandelion Wine"? With his lyrical writing style, the author portrays the dandelion as a glorious flower, harvested every year by the boy's grandfather for dandelion wine that would keep all of the summer joys into a single bottle for when the winter season comes.

"The boys bent, smiling. They picked the golden flowers. The flowers that flooded the world, dripped off lawns onto brick streets, tapped softly at crystal cellar windows and and agitated themselves so that on all sides lay dazzle and glitter of molten sun.
"Every year", said Grandfather. "They run amuck; I let them. Pride of lion in the yard. Stare, and they burn a hole in your retina. A common flower, a weed that no one sees, yes. But for us, noble thing, the dandelion.
So, plucked carefully in sacks, the dandelions were carried below. the cellar dark glowed with their arrival, the wide press stood open, cold. A rush of flowers warmed it.
The press, replaced, its screw rotated, twirled by Grandfather, squeezed gently on the crop.
There-so.
The golden tide; the essence of this fine, fair ran, the gushed from the spout below to cropped, skimmed to ferment, and bottled in clean ketchup shakers, then ranked in sparkling rows in cellar gloom.
Dandelion wine.
The words were summer on the tongue. The wine was summer, sought and stopped..."

Every part of the dandelion is edible both raw and cooked, from the roots to the blossoms. The leaves can be use in salads, also steamed or added to a stir-fry or soup. The roots can be dried and roasted and are commonly used as a coffee substitute or a cleansing and detoxifying tea. The yellow flowers are sweet with honey-like taste and can be eaten raw, put in bread and cakes and, of course, used to make dandelion wine. Herbalists and nutrition experts report the dandelion is highly nutritious and can treat a variety of ailments. A rich source of vitamin A, C, fibre, potassium, iron, calcium, zinc, trace minerals, antioxidants, and protein, the plant helps to treat anemia, heart problems, acne, liver and kidney disease and mainly digestive complaints.
What impresses me the most is the fact that the dandelion flower opens its arms each morning, collects the sunlight of the entire day, and folds its arms again at the day's end. Eating a dandelion is like nibbling on a little slice of sun, isn't it...

Dandelion Muffins

The recipe is based on one from the inspiring book by Miche Bacher "Cooking with Flowers", which I presented here.

Ingredients:

2 cups unbleached flour (or 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup dandelion petals, washed
1/2 cup dried apricots, finely chopped
1/3 cup almonds, chopped
1/4 cup oil
1 1/2 cups milk
5 tbsp honey
1 egg

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 F. Line standard muffin tin with paper liner or coat pan with non-stick spray.
Mix together the dry ingredients- flour, baking powder, salt, dandelion petals, apricots, and almonds. In a separate bowl, whisk milk, honey and oil. Beat in the egg.
Add liquid ingredients to dry and mix by hand to combine (hands prevents overmixing). Pour the wet batter into the prepared pan. Bake for about 30 min, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of muffin comes out clean.

* The dandelion is generally considered safe in food; however some people may have allergic reactions to it. Gather dandelion flowers from areas free of chemical treatments or fertilizer. Pick in a sunny part of the day, so the flowers are fully open and prepare right away. Once picked, they do not last long.

Happy June to all of you!

Sharing with Sunday Best Showcase

May 31, 2014
edible flowers

Dandelion Muffins

The recipe is based on one from the inspiring book by Miche Bacher "Cooking with Flowers", which I presented here.

Happy June to all of you!

Sharing with Sunday Best Showcase

"Anyway, I think I have something even better." I took a deep breath and let it out. "The Sequim Lavender Festival."

"What's a sequim?" Tess asked.

" It's a town in Washington state," Rosie said. "It looks like it should be se-quim, but it's pronounced squim. You know, that's not a bad idea. It's the lavender capital of North America. I hear that festival is fabulous."...

"It's the perfect trip for us", I said, "and I know we'd have a blast..."

" I hate that," Tess said. "It's such a rip-off. Especially to go to a place called Squid. They should at least change it to Calamari."

"Squim, "I said. "It means quiet waters."...

... so I kept talking. "Thirty-five thousand people from all over the world attend the festival, and eight separate lavender farms participate. Buses take you around to tour them all... There are different demonstrations at each farm, everything from growing to cultivating to products made with lavender. Plus fields and fields of lavender and lots of other things like beekeeping, pottery, and craft demonstrations."

Tess pretended to snore.

"And there's a street fair going on at the same time, with a hundred and fifty craft and lavender booths, plus music, and food..." I close my eyes for a second and try to remember what I'd read last night. "Grilled lavender pepper sausages... sundry tomato lavender barbecued chicken... levered lemon sorbet... white chocolate lavender raspberry cheesecake... honey lavender lemonade... lavender black currant champagne."

"Lavender black currant champagne?" Rosie said.

I went in for the kill. "Oh, and we can also tour six award-winning artisan wineries while we're there. It's part of the festival."

Tess stopped walking. "Wineries?" she said. "Oh, I am so there."

"It sounds perfect," Rosie said. "I can't wait."

"Okay," Tess said. "I'm almost on board...

Tess sighed. "But after we go to Sequim, we have to do something about world peace, okay?"

Since I read this lovely summer novel "The Wildwater Walking Club" by Claire Cook several summers ago, I have been dreaming of attending the Lavender Festival. Luckily, unlike Noreen (the main character of the book), it didn't take a strategy to persuade my family and friends for a trip to the Niagara Lavender Festival this past weekend. In fact, there wasn't any need for conviction, I had them at "Niagara-on-the-Lake"( one of our family favorite destinations) and "lavender."

It wasn't a festival of the caliber of Sequim, but it didn't disappoint at all - still everything I expected, and even more. Purple flags were welcoming the guests to the NEOB Lavender , presenting the festival for a third year. Lovely lavender fields filled up the air with a soothing scent. The market area featured vendors and special artisans selling unique lavender creations from lavender scented sachets and pillows to sock monkeys stuffed with lavender. The friendly co-owner Melissa was giving the guests a tour of the greenhouse, explaining the plants they grow, the difference between French and English lavender, details about the distillation process and the product line (the lavender-rosemary shampoo is fantastic and I am not being paid to say this). A wonderful antique store was waiting for those who love antiquing. This year, NEOB was giving away 10,000 Niagara Lavender plants as a part of the charity "purple flower program".

There wasn't grilled lavender pepper sausage, but the lavender pizza from Canuck Pizza Truck was amazing. We enjoyed lavender coffee, lavender crepes, lavender lemonade and even lavender root beer... lavender macaroons and tea biscuits... the peach-lavender ice cream tasted divine... the music was lavender, too (read relaxing). At the culinary demonstrations, we learned how to prepare lavender herb butter panini and poached lavender pear salad. Oh, yes, there was wine tasting as well. But my favorite part of all was strolling through the rows of undulating full bloom lavender, inhaling the aroma and gathering bouquets. You get as big a bouquet as you can get the twist tie around. My husband loved the challenge...

We had a blast!

And our home smells like lavender, everywhere...