Below is the recipe for candying flowers:

1. Find a vibrant, healthy, edible flower

2. Use a paintbrush to thinly paint the petals with a mixture of egg whites and water

3. Carefully dip and sprinkle the flower with superfine sugar

4. Lay flowers on wax paper to dry and snip off the stem

A word of caution, not all flowers are edible and some can be poisonous. You should consult a good reference book when determining what flowers are good to eat. In addition to this you should be careful of pesticides on the flower that can make you sick and a flower is not necessarily edible because it is served with food.

Pollen can detract from the flavor of flowers and irritate allergies. Therefore, it is best to remove the stamens and pistels. Sepals should be removed from all flowers except for violas, Johnny jump ups and pansies. For some flowers such as calendula, chrysanthemum, lavender, rose, tulip, and yucca, only the flower petals are edible. Moreover, some flowers’ petals such as those of chrysanthemums, dianthus, marigolds, and roses have a bitter white base that should be removed from flowers.

Some of my favorite flowers that I would like to try are:

1. The Japanese Honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica) which I’ve been eating the nectar out of while hiking in the woods since I was a kid. It has a sweet taste to it.

2. Mint (Mentha spp.), a sweet minty flower.

3. Violet (Viola odorata), another sweet flower.

These flowers are all culinary herbs and are safe to eat.