My flowery homemade lemonade

Are all flowers edible?

Flowers, like all plants, can be deadly if misused. We recommend buying them from shops so that you can be certain that they are edible. Picking them in the countryside is not recommended because they may be polluted.

Although we talk about flowers as a whole, only the petals are to be eaten. The pistil and stamens are not edible.

There are more than 250 edible flowers. The best known are still roses, violets and wild pansies. They are full of vitamins when used straight away.

Now that we’ve given you some practical tips, let’s get tasting!

Flowery lemonade and ice cube recipe

To make this lemonade you will need:

• • 3cl violet syrup
  • 5cl rose syrup
  • 2 edible rose petals per glass
  • 1 dried or fresh violet per glass
  • 75cl of unsalted sparkling water
  • The juice of 4 lemons

In a jug, mix 3cl of violet syrup and 5cl of rose syrup.  Add the lemon juice and fill the jug with sparkling water. You can add additional rose petals and violets to garnish the glasses and give the drink a vitamin C boost.

And for an even more refreshing drink, you can make ice cubes with flowers inside: place a violet in each section of an ice cube tray and then fill them with water.  Place in the freezer.

After a few hours you will have flowery ice cubes to create unique cocktails.

We don’t know what Marie-Antoinette’s favourite tipple was but here at Gellé Frères, we’re pretty sure that the queen would have found this lemonade with hints of rose delightful.

Where can you find edible flowers?

You can buy flower syrups in supermarkets or delis. You can also buy fresh or dried flowers in delis (such as la Grande Epicerie du Bon Marché or Lafayette Gourmet), organic shops or in supermarkets such as Grand Frais.