How to Cook With Flowers

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Adding flowers to food is not new. Chefs have used blooms to enhance salads and cakes visually. Yet, edible flowers can offer more than mere decoration. For instance, the sdao flowers, used in Cambodian cuisine, provide a unique bitterness. Meanwhile, Eastern redbuds add mild sweetness. Flowers transform when dried, fermented, or blended. The chef Randy Rucker notes that flavors change significantly through such processes.

Three Philadelphia-based chefs shared recipes using flowers. Their creations celebrate summer’s brief abundance. Chef Rhonda Saltzman uses flowers beyond aesthetics in doughnuts. Her bakery, Second Daughter, employs both jasmine blossoms and other edible flowers.

“The fresh flower is what most people think of,” says Rucker, but transforming them changes their essence.

In our 2026 Summer Entertaining Issue, we explore meals worldwide:

Fresh herbs in New Jersey’s tea parties
A seafood feast amidst Mexico City’s market blooms
Bustling nighttime dining on Bangkok streets
American artists’ garden party on Minorca
Creating Icelandic poppy centerpieces from crepe paper
Tips for being a good dinner party guest

Rhonda Saltzman’s Jasmine Blossom Doughnuts

As a child, Rhonda Saltzman associated challah with tradition and community. Her bakery in South Philadelphia, co-owned with her sister Mercedes Brooks, opened in 2021. Using jasmine blossoms, she creates uniquely flavored doughnuts. The glaze is infused with these flowers’ sweetness, while an array of edible blooms adds visual appeal.

Ingredients

575 grams (4 ¾ cups plus 2 tablespoons) all-purpose flour
120 grams (½ cup) water
150 grams (10 tablespoons) whole milk
85 grams (¼ cup) honey
35 grams (3 scant tablespoons) white sugar
75 grams (⅓ cup) extra-virgin olive oil
2 large eggs, room temperature
5 grams (1 ½ teaspoons) instant yeast
5 grams (1 ¾ teaspoons) kosher salt

Jasmine Glaze

1,100 grams (9 cups plus 3 tablespoons) powdered sugar
120 grams (½ cup) whole milk
80 grams (⅓ cup) heavy cream
½ cup whole dried jasmine flowers
20 grams (1 tablespoon plus 1 ½ teaspoons) vanilla extract
4 grams (⅔ teaspoon) salt

Frying and Finishing

Neutral oil, for frying
Fresh edible flowers, for garnish

In her Philadelphia kitchen, located in the Bok Building, Saltzman perfects her creations, ensuring that each doughnut is not just a treat but an experience.

For Saltzman, dough is versatile, transforming challengingly into sticky buns, rolls, and expressly light doughnuts. Flowers elevate these pastries, turning them into more than sweet indulgences.