Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #198879 in Books
• Published on: 1999-03-15
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 112 pages

From Amazon.com
Author Rosalind Creasy has written extensively on edible gardens: The Edible Herb Garden and The Edible French Garden are some of her past titles. The Edible Flower Garden focuses on plants that not only enhance recipes, but also turn the plate into a painting--a visual as well as gastronomic enterprise. For the reader who thinks such things are only for true gourmets or Metropolitan Home magazine aesthetes, one look at the photographs in this book will seduce you. The images are so beautiful and unusual as to be hypnotic: rose petals served as a bowl of ice cream (Rose Petal Sorbet); salads that look like wildflower meadows.

Creasy interviews Alice Waters of Chez Panisse about her use of flowers in meals at her famous Berkeley restaurant; Waters recounts the curious effect cooking with flowers has on diners. "The flowers are a fascination. People really focus on them and are curious." This curiosity stems from a cluster of superstitions: that all flowers are somehow poisonous, that beautiful things should not be touched or consumed, that vegetables are the sturdy, useful plants while flowers are "for show." Reading The Edible Flower Garden, I remembered the summer I forgot to pick my artichokes, and they basked in the sun long after they were ripe. One day I looked out and it was as if a spell had been cast: the ugly green artichoke scales were gone, transformed into blinding purple flowers. Color is always hiding somewhere, and it is wonderful to allow it to flourish, like Creasy does, in places where it is not expected. --Emily White

Southam Newspapers
"Rosalind Creasy books always brighten my day...They are full of colour and energy and enthusiasm...and some startling ideas."

Ingram
A comprehensive guide to selecting and growing flowers that can be used for cookery, both as garnishes and as ingredients. Over 90 color illustrations.

Customer Reviews

Stunning book
The photography in this book is stunning. The information in the book is extremely well done. I love the way the book is set up. The recipes come last and make you want all of the flowers necessary to make them. I make organic rose petal jelly, so I am always on the look out for rose recipes, the rose petal sorbet is great. It can be made as a sorbet or as an ice cream with a bit of tweaking. I have enjoyed chive flower butter, but the first batch I made was a tad potent. The chive flower imparts a much stronger taste in much less volume. The photos are full of great ideas to decorate with the flowers. I often put flowers in pasta and salad, but had certianly never thought of serving my rose butter in roses! Great book all the way around.

Edible Flower Garden by Rosalind Cresy
I found the book beautifully illustrated and for the most part interesting and informative. I also found the book a bit vague and by no means comprehensive. I am a chef trying to acquire a colorful palate for my presentation but I did not find enough variety. I wondered why at least a list of more flowers wasn't included somewhere. Overall a very enjoyable book, especially the recepies...

Edible Flower Garden by Rosalind Cresy
I found the book beautifully illustrated and for the most part interesting and informative. I also found the book a bit vague and by no means comprehensive. I am a chef trying to acquire a colorful palate for my presentation but I did not find enough variety. I wondered why at least a list of more flowers wasn't included somewhere. Overall a very enjoyable book, especially the recepies.