A few weeks ago, Lotte attended a flower workshop at Floral Touch, a company owned by Anna Koster. Now I can hear you all thinking: that’s a fun activity, flower arranging! Colourful bouquets with roses, lilies, tulips and dahlias! But nope, no colourful bouquets for Lotte, but a colourful and mouth watering flower tasting. Did you know that flowers are not just beautiful to look at or a simple way to brighten up your home, but that you can also eat them?! Lotte came back with a rose for me to taste, for example. There are so many different types of roses, most taste sweet, but the one I tasted was quite bitter. I have to admit, it feels a bit strange putting a rose petal in your mouth, but what a fun experiment it was, a real taste sensation!

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Why not?

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If I’ve got you really excited about this, then I need to warn you first. Not all flowers are edible – in fact, many flowers are poisonous! So before you put every flower you come across in your mouth, first check with Google ;).

And if you’re not yet fully convinced, and you’re thinking: why on earth would I eat flowers??? Well, why not? It provides a lot of variety and it’s an experience that will definitely impress your dinner guests. Use flowers as a garnish or as confetti, make it a party! In addition, flowers contain a lot of vitamin C and they are also sustainable. Organic – and therefore edible – flowers are not sprayed with pesticides. That’s better for you and for the world. Or why not try growing flowers in your own garden? You have to wait a while, but after two years you’ll be able to eat your very own home-grown flowers

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Flower trip

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I think flowers are the best and most beautiful if you get them as a surprise. And when we talk about flowers and surprises, the Sechuan Button is perhaps the most amazing flower that exists. The button provides a strong taste sensation. I experienced this sensation myself and I’ll try to explain what happens when you eat one. I ate a quarter of a button and even that was quite intense. You can try half as well, but I should warn you that eating the whole button is an overwhelming experience.

At first your tongue starts to tingle and you experience a burning feeling. Your tongue might even feel numb. As if you’re producing a lot of saliva, and you want to swallow all the time. Your mouth gets warm and a little dry. You can’t really put a name to the taste, but it’s a bit herbal, not spicy. When you take a sip of water it might seem sweeter than normal or the water neutralizes your taste and the weird feeling disappears.

To be honest, I expected it to be more intense, but this experience is different for everybody because our taste buds are different.
 

Appetizing colours

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We talked about the taste of flowers, but the colour of flowers or colours in general have a strong influence on our senses as well. The colour yellow for example stimulates the appetite. It’s no coincidence that the fast food chain McDonalds used the colours yellow and red in its interior, and on its packaging and advertising. These colours make food look tastier and stimulate the appetite. Nowadays McDonalds makes more use of the colour green and that’s no accident either. We associate this colour with sustainability and health, so the colour green even makes fast food look healthy!

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Stimulating yellow

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So, the colour yellow acts as a stimulant and is often associated with energy, happiness and creativity. That’s why yellow is the dominant colour at STUDIO &lotte. The studio faces south, which means that a lot of sunlight enters the room during the day. The &lotte logo splashes off the wall with its bright yellow colour, creating cheerfulness, positivity and energy!
Yes, even in winter when the sun doesn’t shine so often. The studio makes me feel like it’s always summer.

Curious about the flower tasting Anna Koster offers? This is her website: https://floraltouch.nl/

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