These crystallised flowers and petals are actually made by sugar-coating real flowers and petals. They are a classic decoration for chocolates and cakes.

Please note that due to the natural origin of this product and the harvesting process and production process, small amounts of mostly naturally occurring plant materials may be present. This product may not be available all year round as supply is heavily dependent on the size of the crop and other related factors.

What Are Crystallised Roses? 

Whole rose heads, candied rather than dried: each flower is coated in sugar syrup and left until the sugar sets hard around it, which fixes the colour and holds the bloom open. Ours are made by Candiflor
in France, the same people who make our crystallised violets, and the recipe is 91% sugar to 1% real rose flower with gum arabic as the coating agent. There are roughly 200 flowers to a kilo, so a 500g
box holds about a hundred and a 250g tub about fifty, which puts a finished decoration at between 46p and 47p.

How to Use Crystallised Roses

The difference between these and our violet fragments is scale. A fragment is something you scatter; a whole rose is a single decoration that finishes a piece on its own, so one per portion is usually the
right number. Place them onto a surface that is still tacky and they set themselves in - freshly dipped couverture, a glaze that has not skinned over, a piped rosette of ganache. On a dry, flat finish a dot
of tempered chocolate or royal icing underneath will hold one securely. Treat them as decoration rather than as an ingredient: the flavour is gentle and floral, and it is the look you are buying.

Troubleshooting 

Water is the thing to watch out for. The sugar coating dissolves on contact with anything wet, so on a fresh cream, a fruit jelly or an uncovered puree the flower goes translucent and limp within the hour - on those desserts it is a decoration to add at service. Store the box closed and dry, between 15 and 20°C and below 65% humidity, and keep it away from sudden temperature changes; condensation on a cold flower brought into a warm kitchen does the same damage as a wet surface. Minimum durability is 18 months. Size and shade vary between crops because these are real flowers, so a box paler or smaller than the last one is not a fault.

Pairings and Ideas 

Rose works with raspberry, lychee, pistachio, almond, white chocolate and cardamom, and it looks best with space around it. A few ideas to try:

• On a white chocolate and raspberry entremets
• Finishing a rose and lychee bonbon
• Set on a dipped truffle while the couverture is still crystallising
• On a pistachio and rose layer cake, one flower to a slice
• Added to a panna cotta or posset at service
• Across the top tier of a wedding or Mother's Day cake