Carnations are like painted post cards from heavenwith their double borders and frilled pink and white, red and white and even plain white petals. But did you know that they are edible too and can be put into our salads, omelettes, puddings and other desserts?
Carnation salad: to make a delicious salad take one or two heads of lettuce, half a cucumber peeled, quartered and sliced very thin, half a cup of carnation petals, and one tablespoon coriander.
Now combine three tablespoons of groundnut oil, half teaspoon lemon juice, pinch of curry powder, one teaspoon honey, salt and pepper to taste. Now toss this dressing over the salad ingredients mentioned above, and you will have a pretty pink and white carnation salad for your friends! Any other colour of carnations too is fine.
Always wash the carnations gently before cooking them.
Carnation tales: French nobles chose to wear this flower as they marched to the guillotine!
Austrian young men pin them on their hats to show the world they are in love.
This flower is the emblem for Mother's Day!
It also saved the life of Marie Antoinette when a rescuer sent her a message hidden in the petals of a carnation. But sadly, the plot to save her failed! It was not the carnation's fault anyway.
White carnations are the most fragrant. There are more than 30 kinds of carnations of as many different colours, which have the delicious scent of cloves! There is one carnation called Fenbow's Nutmeg Clove, one of the oldest garden plants, and still being cultivated. It was rediscovered in 1960 by one Mr. Sanderson of Leeds, growing in the garden of Colonel Fenbow. Records were found preserved in the family of this Colonel, saying that the nutmeg clove was growing in the same garden in 1652! It was planted by a Julian Fenbow to give its powerful nutmeg scent to flavour wines! The Cottage White carnation has a strong cinnamon scent!
Try painting your white carnations, using ordinary food colouring. Just put the colours you want in a glass or a jar, add some hot water and put the stems of the carnations in. You could even try this with a white rose.
Carnation sauce for cakes, ice-cream, puddings: half a cup currant jelly, one cup carnation petals, three fourth cup raspberries or strawberries, half a cup sugar, one teaspoon lemon juice, half teaspoon cinnamon, one teaspoon cornstarch. Place the first six ingredients in a blender and blend for one minute. Pour into a saucepan, add the cornstarch and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until thick and clear. You can use this sauce on ice cream, cake, pudding, biscuits etc. It can be served hot or cold!
