candied flowers & herbs

This is an update to my 9/7/17 post on candied nasturtiums, which was my first time ever trying out this technique. Since then i've learned a few things, reflected here:

1. a few drops of vodka greatly speed up the drying process, and makes egg white solution thinner and lighter. this helps flowers keep their shape.
2. superfine sugar works better than regular granulated sugar because it's lighter weight and flower won't collapse. it's pricy to buy, so definitely make your own in the food processor.
3. flowers dry better on a drying rack, which allows air flow on all sides. spray lightly with cookie spray so they don't stick.

​Make sure you use plants that are organic/pesticide free. Also, not all flowers and leaves are edible. Please do your research before feeding plants to anyone. :-)
Nasturtium is an entirely edible plant, flowers and leave. This year I planted a bunch of new edible flowers in my garden: bachelor buttons, gem marigolds, bright lights cosmos, lavender hyssop and chamomile. I always save the seed packets so I can identify new plants once (if!) they pop up. :-)
Seeds are mainly from Botanical Interests.

it's fun to test this candying technique on herbs like mint and basil. i recently candied spearmint from my garden and it came out awesome! i used them on chocolate cookies. see photo below.

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tools:

• sheet pan with drying rack sprayed with cookie spray.​
• a food-safe, super-soft paintbrush
• tweezers

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ingredients:

• 1-2 dozen freshly-picked, edible pesticide-free flowers or herb leaves
• superfine sugar. if you don't have any, process granulated sugar in the food processor.
• one egg white, room temperature
• 1 tsp water, room temperature
• 6 drops vodka (helps it dry faster)

method:

1. mix sugar, egg white, water and vodka.
2. paint a thin layer of the solution on all sides of the blossom/leaf. with sturdier blossoms,  you can dip the blossom into the solution, and gently shook off the excess. this seems to have worked, but caused more delicate petals to collapse. Noelle Carter recommends using a spray bottle, which i plan to try sometime.
3. sprinkle all sides of the flower completely with sugar.
4. place on the prepared sheet pan to dry for 1-2 days, until hardened.
5. gently turn them over after 24 hours, so the backside can dry completely.
6. once dry, i snipped off the stems and long pointy tails at the back of the flowers to give a neater appearance. not necessary, though.
7. use as edible decorations!
8. store any leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature, in a cool dark place.

photo by @lalalunchbox