Smell the Roses, Taste the Beauty
At first glance it’s a charmingly landscaped suburban residence, with colorful blooming trees, shrubs, perennials and annuals intermingled throughout the yard. But unlike those of her Houston neighbors, Bee Holleran’s home garden is an edible landscape. It is her laboratory and test kitchen.
A gardener, caterer and purveyor of culinary flower products, Bee comes from a maternal lineage three generations deep of working with flowers. Bee created nourishing treats, teas and elixirs at her café and flower grocery (a term she coined) for years in Montreal, and is now finding new roots in Texas as Flora Cocina. Bee makes the adage “stop and smell the roses” a daily gastronomic practice. Connection to nature and its strong positive impact on her well-being is what drives her. She believes that including edible flowers on a plate helps people feel and taste that connection even more deeply than vegetables can.
There’s no denying that we’re drawn to the beauty of flowers. The visual impact alone is reason enough to bring them to our plates. How pretty chive flowers baked into a savory tart, or pansies embossed into shortbread cookies, or micro orchids suspended in a cocktail can be! Their tastes and aromas range wildly from delicately sweet, tangy, spicy, grassy, minty, peppery, perfumed or tart to the subtle essence of the vegetable or herb from which it blossoms.
Surprisingly, the sensual pleasures that come with eating flowers are not the only benefits.
Flowers have been used for centuries for their healing properties. They can aid in relieving indigestion, stress, headaches or inflammation. Rich in vitamins and antioxidants that boost our immune systems, flowers are full of nutrients. Best of all, edible flowers can awaken our most forgotten senses: of discovery, delight and wonder.
