Candied edible flowers without egg white!

Blood Orange Olive Oil Cake (see my recipe!) with candied cosmos, blue porterweed, pentas & mint leaves

I finally experimented again using meringue powder in place of raw egg white, and vodka instead of water. It was a success!

1. Using vodka instead of water greatly speeds up the drying process, and the alcohol evaporates, so you don't taste it. i realize this may disappoint some. ;-)​
2. Meringue powder can be found online and in cooking/baking/craft stores.
3. superfine sugar works better than regular granulated sugar because it's lighter weight and flower won't collapse. it's not sold in many stores, but i found it in Publix here in Florida, and hear it's also sold in Walmart. You can also make your own putting regular granulated sugar in a food processor.
4. flowers dry better on a drying rack, which allows air flow on all sides. Coat lightly with vegetable oil so they don't stick.
5. For larger flowers, use the petals only, as the stems, stamen/pistil (flower center) and sepals (on underside) can taste bitter.
6. The cake pictured here is my Blood Orange Olive Oil Cake

​Make sure you use flowers that are safe to eat! Not all flowers and leaves are edible. Please do your research before feeding plants to anyone. :-) They should be organic/ and pesticide-free. 
The seeds I use are mainly from Botanical Interests. They have a lot of edible and organic varieties. 

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