Using her background as a medical technologist, Williams developed a method of
preparing candled flowers that can be made ahead of time and frozen until ready to
use in garnishing.
Edible Blossoms Lend Elegance
To Special Occasions
LOU ANN GOOD
Lancaster Fanning Staff
HERSHEY (Dauphin Co.)
Edible flowers might not be every
one’s cup of tea—that is, until they
see the elegant flowers that grace
Jill Ann Williams’ wedding cakes.
Dainty, elegant blossoms shim
mer with her secret candy coating.
Although the flowers appear fra
gile, Williams’ method makes
them durable. In fact, the blossoms
will not shatter even if thrown on
the floor, not that anyone would
want to throw away the beautiful
blooms that maintain their original
shapes and bright colors.
Williams’ said her intrigue with
edible flowers began when as a
child she lined up all her dolls and
teddies for a tea party.
“I only did that often enough to
become memorable,” she said.
“It’s the same way with edible
flowers. They aren’t something
you serve everyday—just on
memorable occasions.”
Williams demonstrated making
edible flowers at the State Horti
culture Association meeting held
recently in Hers hey.
She encouraged those in the
flower business to consider the
side business that can be deve
loped with edible flowers.
Her own experimentation with
edible flowers came as the result of
paying an exorbitant price for
some that were pale and crumbled
when touched.
Her background as a medical
technologist helped Williams
develop a method of preparing edi
ble flowers that do not violate the
chemical principles.
Her technique includes immers
ing blossoms in water IS minutes
in order “to dilute off sprays” on
flowers. Flowers are then thor
oughly dried by patting with a tea
towel. If the blossoms are put into
a ziplock bag and refrigerated at
this point, they will keep up to two
weeks until ready to be prepared
for eating.
After the flowers are covered
with Williams’ mixture that
includes Silica Jel and sugar, the
edible flowers will keep up to one
year in the freezer. This makes it
easy to prepare flowers ahead of
time and garnish the food when
ready to serve.
Williams is insistant that the
flowers should not be haphazardly
placed on food, but that they
should be artfully arranged follow
ing flowering arranging principles
using odd numbers and harmoniz
ing colors.
She suggested using the leaves
of violets as a base in food or block
of cream cheese. She incorporated
other plants such as ruby leaf let
tuce and a heart-shaped beet cut
out to garnish food. She stuffed
apricot halves with cream cheese
and topped with a purple pansy.
While pansies and violets are
the most popular for edible pur
poses. many others are equally
flavorful.
A wedding cake using the can
died blossoms shows the elegance
that edible flowers can lend to the
occasion.
Williams said that she knows a
man who grows four acres of dan
delions for edible flower use.
Elegant edible flower candying
assemblage kit is available for $lB
plus $4 for shipping and handling.
The kit contains complete four
step instructions and reusable
material to candy edible blossoms
and herbs with long-lasting results.
Included is candying gel for 175
blossoms.
For more information, write to
Sudden Elegance, Ltd., 3724
Cedar Drive, Baltimore. MD
21207. Or. phone (410) 944-5547.
Jill Ann Williams puts the flnlj -ig u
blossoms that shimmer from her candy-coating met)
Flower Fields Is
Blooming Success
LOU ANN GOOD
Lancaster Fanning Staff
HERSHEY (Dauphin Co.)
Nellie Call operates a blooming
business called Flower Reids near
Buffalo. N.Y. She sells flowers
horn May through November in a
rustic-looking bam surrounded by
three acres of flowers.
Through trial and enqr. Call has
learned what works and what 1
doesn’t in growing and retailing !
flowers. She shared her insights at
the State Horticultural Associa
tion’s annual meeting held recen
tly in Hershey.
Call grows a wide variety of
flowers on three acres surrounding
her shop, which is located in a non
populated area along a main road.
In addition to growing peren
nials. annuals, and bulbs in hun
dreds of varieties, Call also col
lects wildflowers to sell.
Call said that although she loves
retailing, she grew sick of custom
ers because they always wanted to
talk, and she couldn’t get her work
done.
That gave her the idea to go self
service.
“People like to select their own
bouquets,” she said.
Call makes this convenient by
placing different varieties in plas
tic sleeves and placing the flowers
in buckets of water.
Her shop is filled with a profuse
selection of flowers—another
marketing technique.
“Inside the shop, you need lots
of signs,” Call warned, “because
people can’t seem to read only one
sign."
In addition, she tells customers
that she is busy, and if they want to
talk, they can follow her around.
She’s found that people love to
watch her woric.
“The key to success in retailing
flowers is to make sure the flowers
last 7 to 10 days.” Call said.
To maintain this life span, flow
ers must be conditioned.
“Do not sell flowers that aren’t
conditioned. They won’t last,”
Call warned potential growers.
Freshly picked flowers are
stripped of leaves and placed in a
conditioning solution. A general
mixture of 2 tablespoons vinegar,
3-4 teaspoons sugar, and 1 tables
poon household bleach to a 5-gal
lon bucket of warm water is used.
“The water used during condi
tioning must be warm,” Call said.
“Cold water is a shock to flowers.’’
The flowers are submerged in
the mixture for 4 to 5 hours while
placed in a dark area.
One of Call’s biggest income
makers is arranging flowers for
weddings. “Decorating cakes with
fresh flowers is my signature.” she
said.
Call never advertises but has
found that word spreads.
“Think of all those guests at a
wedding as potential customers,”
Call said of weddings.
hi addition, she can charge three
to four times more for bridal
arrangements and still be much
more economical than flower
shops.
“Anything Martha Steward
(guru of current trends in food,
garden, and home fashions) is
doing is in demand,” Call said.
Nothing goes to waste in Call’s
operation. She keeps her prices
lower than anyone else around her
and is able to make a profitable liv
ing. She harvests every flower and
intersperses smaller ones in bou
quets that people seem to love.
Although she mostly retails, she
also sells to a marketer who col
lects 20 percent of what he sells for
her.
She also has a special arrange-
(Turn to Pago B 14)
lod.