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A la Carte Catering
Adrian's Tavern
Boca Chica Restaurante
Buona Sera
Cafe Twenty Eight
Champions Sports Bar & Grill
Country View Estate B & B
D. Fong's Chinese Cusine
Dangerfield's
Girvan Grille
Hell's Kitchen
Jensen's Wine & Dine
Joe Sensers Sports Grill
Joe Sensers Sports Grill & Bar Eagan
Joe Sensers Sports Grill & Bar Roseville
Key's Bar & Grill - Foshay
Key's Cafe - Downtown St. Paul
Kip's Irish Pub
La Casita Mexican Restaurant Columbia Heights
La Casita Mexican Restaurant Roseville
La Fonda de los Lobos Restaurant
Lightly Epicurean Caterers & Deli
Lone Spur Grill & Bar
Los Andes Restaurante
Lotus Restaurant
Luci Ancora
Luna Rossa Trattoria
Mansetti's Pizza & Pasta
Maria's Cafe
Mediterranean Cruise Cafe
O.K. Corral
Ol'Mexico Restaurante
Ole Piper - Rosemount
Park Tavern
Q. Cumbers Buffet
Ristorante Luci
Sunsets of Woodbury
Sunsets on Wayzata Bay
The Original Pancake House-Eden Prairie
The Original Pancake House-Edina
The Riverview Cafe
The Riverview Wine Bar
Ursula's Wine Bar and
W.A. Frost & Company


Crystallized Flowers

Some edible flowers suitable for candying include pansies, Johnny-jump-ups (viola tricolor), violets, primroses, rose petals and dianthus. Use to adorn cakes, desserts or salads.


Ingredients

 1 oz   gum arabic crystals (or powder) 
 4 tablespoons    rosewater
   superfine sugar (castor sugar) 
    fresh edible (unsprayed) flowers 
   wax or silicone paper 
   small paintbrush 
   small  jar with lid 
   sealable storage container 


Directions

Place the gum arabic and the rosewater in a small jar and leave for two or three days for the gum arabic to dissolve. When the crystals have dissolved, the mixture will look like thin honey (viscous and pale gold).

Prepare a shallow bowl filled with superfine sugar (which is much finer than regular granulated sugar and looks prettier on the flowers).

Cover a tray with waxed paper or silicone paper.

Hold a flower (or leaf) by its stem and very carefully paint it with the gum arabic mixture. Don't coat it too heavily. Paint both sides.

Hold the wet flower over the bowl of sugar and (using a teaspoon) sprinkle it evenly with sugar. Turn it over and do the back side, too.

Shake off the excess sugar (tap your hand on the side of the bowl) and then place the coated flower on the wax- or silicone-paper-covered tray.

Leave to dry for 3-4 days.

After the flowers or leaves are dry, clip off their stems and place them in an airtight container. Store away from light and heat and they should be usable and retain their color for a year.  They are very fragile; however, so be careful not to drop them or the container they are stored in.

Use them on a frosted cake, fat free treats or just about anything.  Some flowers can either taste very exotic like perfume, or sugar candies. Mint leaves are good this way!

For salads or garnishing, flowers can be used that are not candied. Many flowers such as daylilies (buds, flowers, and tubers), nasturtiums, sunflowers, zucchini flowers, apple blossoms, anise-hyssop, chives or garlic-chives, and dandelion.

*There is an alternative method that is much faster using unflavored gelatin. Follow the directions on the package to dissolve the gelatin. Dip the flower into the gelatin then into the sugar. Let dry on wax paper. While this will work it cannot produce the beautiful flowers the first process will nor will they keep as long. But sometimes you just need something quick.