Crystallized Flowers

Petals and leaves need no embellishment of course, but who could resist their candy crunch once you've crystallized them.

It is simple to do, just take a selection of edibles from the garden, here: primroses, gorse petals, rosemary, sweet cicely flowers and leaves, lemon geranium. Beat an egg white lightly with a fork and paint each one, then dip into, and sprinkle over, some caster sugar. Leave overnight on a parchment-lined tray to crunch up.

The primroses, with their delicate tutus, must have been made to be set in sugar.  Crystallizing seems to emphasise the flavour of sweet cicely and gorse – think coconut cream. The rosemary flowers meanwhile, would be an aristocratic adornment for a dark chocolate cup cake.  Why not make a tray of cupcakes and top each one with a different plant, an enchanting way to celebrate the arrival of Spring.

NOTE: Always be very very certain that a flower is edible before you crystallize it. There are some beautiful flowers out there, the ubiquitous foxglove, for example, that are extremely poisonous.