The Scented Kitchen

International food writer and chef Frances Bissell has been cooking with flowers for many years. Her latest book, The Scented Kitchen, is published this September. She reveals the tricks of her trade to Liz Dobbs

Frances Bissell (left) with Liz Dobbs

'Roses are the best flowers to start cooking with. A rose syrup is very versatile, or try lavender vinegar – it's fabulous'

Fenton House

LD: How did you start cooking with flowers?

FB: My parents loved gardening. They had a little garden in Derbyshire with a huge lavender bush. In the hot summer of 1976, I captured its colour and scent in a bottle of white wine vinegar. So it wasn't the lavender fields of the Mediterranean but an English garden that started me off.

LD: Do you have a garden of your own?

FB: No, it would distract me from cooking. But I love seasonal things, so friends bring me produce, and Danny Snape (head gardener at Fenton House) occasionally spares me flowers and apples. I also enjoy foraging – nearby Hampstead Heath is well supplied with seeded apple trees and wild garlic.

LD: What culinary delights could gardeners make this month?

FB: Apple jellies flavoured with flowers are good, roses will still be around, perhaps also lavender and myrtle flowers. Any herb flowers such as those from rosemary, hyssop, sage or summer savory can be used too.

LD: Any particular types of apple?

FB: Not really, I even use windfalls. The cooker 'Bramley' is good, but it is so fluffy it sometimes drips through the jelly bag. 'White Transparent' is a rare Russian one that grows at Fenton House. It crops early in July and has a very white flesh, so it makes a pale jelly that's ideal for pale flowers such as pink roses or jasmine.

LD: Which are the best flowers to start to cook with?

FB: Roses probably. The old-fashioned ones such as the gallicas, damasks and Rosa rugosa. Any scented roses, especially red or pink ones, are good because you get the colour as well.

LD: The idea of adding flowers to caster sugar to flavour it is well known, but what is the next stage on from that for beginners?

FB: I would say making a concentrated syrup. This is so versatile as you can add it to drinks, custards or ice-cream.

LD: What about savoury ideas?

FB: Lavender vinegar is fabulous. I have a mini-solera system, which means I keep replacing the lavender flowers every season and topping up with white wine vinegar. I keep it by my stove. If you have a culinary spray bottle, fill it with lavender vinegar and spray it on salads, particularly tomatoes, that have been tossed in extra virgin olive oil.

LD: Doesn't lavender have to be used with restraint in food?

FB: Yes, you use less of lavender than other flowers, but I love it because it can be used with savoury or sweet dishes. I keep stalks of lavender in bags in the freezer, then take it out when roasting a chicken - or I put lamb on top of it. It is also good with fish in place of fennel. The combination of lavender and chocolate is addictive.

LD: How do you use day lilies (Hemerocallis)?

FB: The flowers can be used in salads, but the buds can be dipped in batter and fried.

LD: Are you still experimenting with scented flowers?

FB: Oh yes, only yesterday I made a raspberry and lavender jelly - the colour was so vibrant it was almost a 'punk jelly'. Today, I'm hoping to collect some cider apples and myrtle to make a jelly that should be fabulous with pork. A friend has told me petunias are scented, so I'm researching them too.

Eight to eat

* Apples – use apple jelly as a base for lavender or fennel and chilli.
* Borage – not just a garnish for Pimm's but a colourful ingredient for pasta dishes too.
* Fennel – the flowers, seeds and stems can be used, and as it self-seeds around most people are happy to share a few stems.
* Hemerocallis – the delicious taste and texture of young courgettes.
* Lavender – versatile as used in both savoury and sweet dishes.
* Myrtle – an invaluable garden plant whose flowers are edible and whose leaves can be used as you would bay leaves.
* Roses – good with strawberries, raspberries and cherries.
* Sage – purple-leaved sage is pungent and a colourful herb.

Fenton House

The photograph above was taken in the grounds of Fenton House, a National Trust property, 300 yards from Hampstead tube station. This 17th-century merchant's house has a lovely walled garden with a 300-year-old apple orchard, kitchen garden, rose garden and herbaceous borders.

Recipe – rose petal syrup

The Scented Kitchen

This easily made syrup forms the base for rose-flavoured creams, custards, ice-creams and sorbets.
400ml (14 fl oz) water
50g (2oz) heavily scented, pink or red roses
400g (14oz) granulated sugar
Boil the water, pour it over the flower petals in a bowl and leave for about three hours. You will notice that the colour fades, but the addition of sugar will restore its healthy pink blush. Put all the ingredients in a saucepan, heat gently until the sugar has dissolved, then remove from the heat and leave until cold. Strain, bottle and label. Store it in the fridge.

The Scented Kitchen

Cooking with Flowers by Frances Bissell is a thoroughly researched manual that aims to 'use a flower's scent as a flavour as one might a herb or spice'. Flowers covered include carnations, elderflower, hawthorn, fennel, borage, lavender, marigolds, nasturtiums, orange blossom, jasmine, linden, roses, saffron, violets and pansies. The book includes an interesting history of the use of flowers in cooking. It explores various techniques used to extract the flavour of flowers, and offers tempting recipes covering sweet and savoury dishes and even drinks. Paperback £9.99, published by Serif.

*Photos: Sharon Pearson.