Announcing the Spice is Right III Theme

The theme for the June edition of The Spice is Right will be–drumroll please–“The Perfumed Garden.”

“What is she on about now?” I am sure you are wondering.

Well, it is easy–I want you to combine edible flowers in some form or another, with spices in a recipe. You can give us cultural notes about the flower, historical background on its use, your inspiration for why you chose it, or whatever you like in the post. You can tell us how the plant grows, and how you harvested it–however you would like to do that.

You also do not -have- to use fresh flowers to fulfill the idea of this challenge. You can use extracts (kewra or rose for example), waters (rosewater or orange-flower water), dried petals or flowers (lavender buds or rose petals), essential oils–in very small amounts (violet or lavender) or preserves (rose petal jelly or gulkand).

If you use any of these items, be certain they are food grade, and are from flowers not treated with chemical pesticides. (Frontier and Aura Cacia essential oils are organic, for example.) Do not use rosewater mixed with glycerine, but simply distilled water that has been scented with pure rose oil. The best way to assure that your flower waters are meant to be used not as perfumes but as flavoring agents is to buy them at a grocery store rather than a drugstore.

If you use fresh flowers, follow these few simple rules. One, make sure that the flower is truly edible. If in doubt, don’t eat it–there are plenty of books and websites out there about edible flowers. Two, make sure that the flowers are from a grower who doesn’t use chemical pesticides on it. (The best way to assure that is to grow them yourself or to get them from a neighbor or family member.)Three–wash it very well–wee bugs like to hide in the petals of plants and surprise you by appearing on top of your cake right before you serve it. Yes, this has happened to me. Yes, it is embarrassing!

Have fun with this one. Be adventurous and creative. Let the flowers be your palette and the scents and flavors your paints for a masterpiece.

I look forward to seeing what you come up with!

And, as always, if you have questions, or need help, email me or post here and ask.

The entry rules are the same as always–when you make your entry post, leave a link back to this post, (that way, if your readers want, they can come play, too) email me a link to your post, with your name as you want it to appear in my round up along with nationality if it is important to you. (This will also forstall me guessing and getting it wrong again!) The deadline is midnight June 15th, and the roundups will appear in the next couple of days after the deadline.

Any questions?

Look for the final round-up post for The Spice is Right II either this evening or tomorrow morning!

Note: All of the photographs that are illustrating this post come from the garden at our old house in Pataskala. You can see why we miss the garden so much!

19 Comments

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1. Thanks for concise round-up.Spice# 3 is really inspiring and will be a new task
   for me to engage in this interesting spice blogging

   Comment by Ramya — May 17, 2006 #

2. WHAT????!!!! How do you come up with these?

   Comment by L.G — May 17, 2006 #

3. Glad you like the round-up so far, Ramya–and I am glad you like the next theme.

   L.G.–well, actually, I cook a lot with flower flavors myself, and I thought, hrm–what would go with June? Flowers!

   I already have July’s theme and August’s themes set, though the exact name for the Auguest theme I still have to come up with.

   After that, as my pregnancy advances, we will have to see what happens. I may or may not be as creative with them as I have been, or I may just slack up a bit.

   But I like seeing everyone get creative and have fun with these events and everyone always learns a lot from the different posts.

   Comment by Barbara — May 17, 2006 #

4. Great theme, Barbara, and thanks for your considerable efforts in these challenges. Wow…I’m quite sure I wouldn’t have had the energy or inclination when I was expecting!

   I’m going to file this challenge away in the back of my brain, hoping it will percolate up with something brilliant right after my MAJOR commitment for the end of the month has been completed…

   Comment by Jen — May 18, 2006 #

5. How can I resist this? My garden is full of flowers right now…

   Comment by ilva — May 18, 2006 #

6. I can’t wait to see what you send me, Ilva!

   Jen–what I lack the energy for is stuff like housework. But that may not have much to do with pregnancy….it may just be me. 😉

   Comment by Barbara — May 18, 2006 #

7. Well this is totally up my alley!

   Comment by Gabriella True — May 20, 2006 #

8. oh and I love your flowers. Poppies are one of my favorites.

   Comment by Gabriella True — May 20, 2006 #

9. You just don’t make it any easier, do you, Barbara! ;-D I love using flowers as well, although they’re generally just as a garnish.

   I’m really hoping that we’ll HAVE something that is particularly flavourful flowering in time. This spring has been particularly cold so far.

   -Elizabeth

   P.S. Have you changed the specifications for the permalink image size from 72×54 to 100×75 pixels?

   Comment by ejm — May 22, 2006 #

10. Well, Elizabeth, if you don’t have fresh flowers to use yet, you can always use essences, dried flowers, waters, or preserved flowers and still fulfill the requirements of the challenge!

    As for the pictures–you don’t have to send me any–if you want to specify which one to use, that is fine, but it is just as simple for me to download them from your site and let the software do the sizing than it is to have them sent to me in email!

    Comment by Barbara — May 22, 2006 #

11. […] Many foodblog discoveries are largely due to looking at crossblogging events, in particular: Kalyn’s (Kalyn’s Kitchen) Weekend Herb Blogging and the wonderful Spice Is Right that Barbara (Tigers and Strawberries) started. Others are from links on posts of foodblogs that I look at on a relatively regular basis. […]

    Pingback by blog from OUR kitchen » “Around the World” meme... we adore good food — June 1, 2006 #

12. […] The Spice is Right#3 […]

    Pingback by blog from OUR kitchen » ... we adore good food — June 2, 2006 #

13. TSIR #3 The perfumed garden: Daisy-Spread

    Barbara at Tigers

    Trackback by ostwestwind.twoday.net — June 14, 2006 #

14. I made a spread with daisies

    Comment by Ulrike aka ostwestwind — June 14, 2006 #

15. […] Please read more about how to participate in The Spice is Right III: The Perfumed Garden. […]

    Pingback by blog from OUR kitchen » ISO mishti doi... we adore good food — June 14, 2006 #

16. […] Rose-infused cuisine is found loosely dotted around the Mediterranean, particularly France, Greece, and the Arab world. I know it as a sweet item, but in the meandering that passed as research for this month's Spice is Right, The Perfumed Garden, I also came across a note that North African cuisine includes a chicken rubbed with rose and honey. I'll be trying that one shortly. […]

    Pingback by The Sour Patch » Spice is Right #3- Chocolate Rose Cakes — June 15, 2006 #

17. […] As soon as I saw the flowering sage at the farmer’s market, I just knew I had to use them in my entry for The Spice is Right #3: The Perfumed Garden, which called for us to use edible flowers in our cooking. And as I was saying, I have this extreme overabundance of sour cherries right now. […]

    Pingback by Habeas Brulee » Blog Archive » Sour Cherry Sage Flower Jam — June 17, 2006 #

18. […] The Spice Is Right 3: The Perfumed Garden: Rosewater June 11, 2006 Filed under: Recipes — mackytravelbug @ 6:42 am The day I read about the theme for this month’s The Spice Is Right I had drank a Singaporean beverage made with shaved ice, condensed milk and rosewater. I remember thinking that there has to be a better way to use rosewater syrup. The drink was sickeningly sweet but I could taste the floral essence of the rosewater and I wanted to try using it in another dish. Then here comes the announcement for the new theme of the The Spice Is Right and I new it was in the stars… […]

    Pingback by The Spice Is Right 3: The Perfumed Garden: Rosewater « The Edible Garden — February 17, 2008 #

19. I want to make gulkand or rose gam. please answer my two points so i can make good quality gulkand .
    1. Use dry or fresh leaves of Rose Flowers.
    2. Which colour of Rose is better Pink Rose or Red Rose.

    Thanks

    Yours
    Deepak

    Comment by Deepak — August 21, 2008 #

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