On Food and Cooking

embellish the flavors of many dishes,
rosewater in baklava and “Turkish delight,”
for example, and orange-flower water in
Moroccan salads and stews and in Turkish
coffee. Food historian Charles Perry has
called these extracts “the vanilla of the
Middle East.” They were commonly used in
the West as well until vanilla displaced them
in the middle of the 19th century.
Many flowers can be and are used as edible
garnishes, or cooked into aromatic fritters, or
infused to make a tea or sorbet. The petals are
the main source of volatile chemicals, which
are held in surface cells or specialized oil
glands. Both the petals and their flavors are
delicate, so they should be cooked very briefly
or added at the last minute. Flower petals are
candied by brief cooking in a strong sugar
syrup, or by brushing them gently with egg
white or a solution of gum arabic, dusting
them with sugar, and allowing them to dry. In
the second technique, the egg white provides