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You are here: Home / Recipes and Cooking Tips / How to Make Candied Flowers

How to Make Candied Flowers

July 24, 2011 by Alea Milham 17 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Read our disclosure policy here.
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How to make candied flowers - an eggless recipe

When we were at a friend’s house last month, one of my friend’s daughters entertained my son with a coloring/activity book. On one of the pages the child was supposed to identify what did not belong of four pictures: a rose, an apple, a daffodil, and a pansy. My son pointed to the daffodil and said it didn’t belong because it wasn’t edible. The little girl corrected my son and told him that the apple didn’t belong. But my son stood his ground and said, “Apples and their flowers are edible. Daffodils are poisonous; it doesn’t belong”.

Yes, my son is that kid. The one that feeds his friends flowers. Below is a list of edible flowers that your children may be served in my backyard.

Edible Flowers:

rose petals
pansies
hollyhocks
snapdragons
impatients
honeysuckle

I try to have as much edible landscaping as possible. Here is a more thorough list of edible flowers and a list of nonedible poisonous flowers in case you want to incorporate more safe flowers in your landscaping and remove dangerous flowers from your yard.

How to Make Candied Flowers

How to Make Candied Flowers - egg free recipe

I create a syrup to dip my flowers in, rather than using the old-fashioned method of brushing the flowers with egg white. While I let my kids eat flowers, I do not let them eat raw egg because of the risk of samonella.

Since we eat our flowers, I do not use chemicals on my flower gardens. Any flowers that you use in your kitchen should come from a chemical free source.

Print

How to Make Candied Flowers

Course Dessert
Prep Time 3 hours hours
Total Time 3 hours hours
Author Alea

Ingredients

  • 50 - 100 edible flowers
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon rose water optional (How to Make Rose Water)
  • 2 -4 tablespoons superfine or caster sugar How to Make Superfine or Caster Sugar

Instructions

  • Rinse flowers in a gentle spray of water. Set on a towel to dry.
  • Place water and sugar in a small pan. Cook over a medium heat until it begins to boil. Reduce heat and simmer until all of the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.
  • Dip flowers into sugar syrup using a stem or tweezers if the flower doesn't have a stem. If you do not want any droplets on your flowers, you can brush the syrup on with a small paint brush.
  • Set flower on wax paper and sprinkle with fine sugar. Leave the flowers on the wax paper to dry for 2 hours.

Notes

Yield: 50 - 100 candied flowers or petals

 

How to Make Candied Flowers - egg free recipe

Once dry, the candied flowers can be used to decorate cookies and cakes:

Use homemade candied flowers to decorate baked goods I used some of the candied flowers to decorate Gluten-Free Shrewsbury Cakes.

This post is linked to the Hearth and Soul Hop ,  Tasty Tuesday and Feed Me Tweet Me Follow Me Home.

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About Alea Milham

Alea Milham is the owner of Premeditated Leftovers and the author of Prep-Ahead Meals from Scatch. She shares her tips for saving money and time while reducing waste in her home. Her favorite hobby, gardening, is a frugal source of organic produce for her recipes. She believes it is possible to live fully and eat well while spending less.

Comments

  1. Lisa L says

    May 24, 2017 at 12:41 pm

    how long do the finished flowers keep?

    Reply
  2. sophia says

    January 12, 2016 at 5:22 am

    How long do the candied flowers last for? I’m making a cake for my friend’s wedding and they don’t eat egg so this would be perfect… but trying to get as much done in advanced as possible.

    Reply
    • Alea Milham says

      January 12, 2016 at 10:02 am

      They only last for a day.

      Reply
  3. Honor Schulte-Usui says

    September 4, 2013 at 7:12 am

    I’m trying to find out why my flowers always stay damp and wilt instead of turning hard. I’ve tried different recipes using different ratios of sugar to water and cooking to different temperatures but still can’t get it right. Can it possibly be the syrup coating or caster sugar is too heavy, if so how do I prevent that when dipping the flowers?

    Reply
    • Alea Milham says

      September 4, 2013 at 12:17 pm

      I dip the flowers, then let the extra drip off. Then I sprinkle them with sugar. They should stay firm, but not hard for a day, possible two. If you want your flowers to be harder, you may want to consider brushing them with egg whites instead of using the syrup, and then sprinkling them with sugar

      Reply
  4. April @ The 21st Century Housewife says

    July 30, 2013 at 6:25 am

    I love the story about your son, and your candied flowers are just beautiful. The Shrewsbury Cakes look so elegant too!

    Reply
  5. Michelle@SimplifyLiveLove says

    July 23, 2013 at 11:27 am

    I want to meet your son. Cute story and I love the edible flower post. 🙂

    Reply
  6. Donna says

    February 27, 2013 at 5:15 pm

    do you know how to make small hard candied flowers for cookies?

    Thank!

    Reply
  7. Beth @ Aunt B's Kitchen says

    May 23, 2012 at 2:01 pm

    Great story about your boy! 🙂 I’m glad to see a candying recipe that doesn’t use raw eggs. I’ve pinned it for future reference.

    Reply
  8. Jaz says

    August 23, 2011 at 4:09 am

    Thanks for the list you have provided, this really helpful. This is something interesting I can share with my friends and to their kids. It’s just so fresh in my knowledge and I’m sure they too will be ecstatic.

    Reply
  9. Vicky says

    July 26, 2011 at 2:50 am

    These look fantastic!

    Reply
  10. Tadka Pasta says

    July 25, 2011 at 10:12 pm

    Your son is so smart! Kudos to you for giving him such a beautiful environment to grow in. Thanks for the tutorial on candying the flowers, they look so sweet.

    Reply
  11. Swathi says

    July 25, 2011 at 8:33 pm

    Alea,

    This candid flowers looks awesome. Nice idea sure i will try them.

    Reply
  12. Tegan says

    July 25, 2011 at 7:24 pm

    That is awesome! I knew you could eat roses, but not the others. And I absolutely love that your son stood his ground and knew which flowers were edible and which ones weren’t! I will definitely be looking at the two links you posted and I want to try your recipe when I get enough flowers. 🙂 Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!

    Reply
  13. Troy says

    July 25, 2011 at 4:22 pm

    I am going to stea… um, borrow this idea soon for my blog. The Rose is the Herb of the Year next year, and I want to be able to feature lots of ideas for how to use roses toward the end of this year.

    Reply
    • Alea says

      July 25, 2011 at 4:44 pm

      I am flattered Troy! I will have pictures of cookies decorated with candied rose petals tomorrow. If you are interested in rose recipes visit Hunger and Thirst. She has a few recipes on her blog and will be hosting a round up of rose recipes at the end of the month.

      Reply
  14. Elsa says

    July 25, 2011 at 2:42 pm

    hahaha! I love it! Your son is so smart!! I’ve never made candied flowers before, but they are gorgeous.

    Reply

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Welcome. I'm Alea!

On Premeditated Leftovers I share simple recipes made with whole foods, practical shopping tips, time saving techniques, and meal planning strategies. I also share tips for minimizing food waste, so more of the food that is purchased ends up on the table.

While volunteering as a budget counselor, I realized that food is the element of most people’s budgets where they have the greatest control. I set out to develop low-cost recipes from scratch to prove it’s possible to create delicious meals on a limited budget. Eating well while spending less is about more than just creating recipes using inexpensive ingredients; it’s about creatively combining ingredients so you don’t feel deprived and are inspired to stick to your budget.

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