Here’s how to make candied rose petals—and the technique couldn’t be easier. It’s essentially just sugared rose petals and requires only egg white, sugar, and a little patience.
Candied Rose Petals
Special Equipment: New soft bristle paintbrush (optional)
Ingredients
Email Grocery ListDirections
Very carefully pluck the individual edible petals from the rose bloom.
Gently wash the rose petals, trying not to bruise them. Place the petals on kitchen towels or paper towels and let them be until they’re completely dry. You may wish to dab the petals with a clean, dry towel to ensure they’re completely dry.
Place a wire cooling rack on a baking sheet. Crack the egg white into a small bowl and whisk it with a fork. Dump the superfine sugar into a shallow bowl or onto a plate.
Gently paint a rose petal with the egg white using a new soft bristle paintbrush or instead simply dip the petal in the egg white, turning to coat both sides and allowing any extra to drop off, and then place the petal in the bowl of superfine sugar, turning to coat both sides and sprinkling on extra, if necessary, so the petals are completely coated with sugar.
Space the candied rose petals apart on a wire cooling rack and leave until dry and hardened.
Use the candied rose petals the same day as they’ll become soft and wet if left too long (even if stored in a sealed container). Originally published August 26, 2016.
Raw Egg Reminder
A gentle reminder that this candied rose petals recipe contains raw egg. Please be aware of this if you’re making the recipe for anyone for whom that’s a potential food safety no-no, including the very young, the very old, the very pregnant, and the very compromised in terms of immunity. All the rest of you, go ahead and nibble these little lovelies with not a care in the world.
Recipe Testers Reviews
These candied rose petals were the perfect topper to plain vanilla frosted cupcakes. Even though these were simple to prepare, they gave an ordinary frosted cupcake an elegant look. I think they would look nice, too, alongside a plain cake, either on top or on the side. The petals had a nice, subtle flavor which tasted mostly like sugar at first taste but then a nice rose flavor came out at the end.
The longest part of preparing this recipe was waiting for the petals to dry after rinsing them and waiting for them to dry once the sugar was applied. It took about 20 minutes for the petals to dry on paper towels. I wound up dabbing off any extra beads of water. Painting the petals with the egg white was a bit cumbersome. I found that I missed spots on the petals using the paint brush. I wound up dipping the petal in the egg white and brushing the excess off with the brush. The superfine sugar adhered better with a thicker coat of egg white, using the dip method as opposed to the painting method.
I used 1 rose which yielded about 20 usable petals. The petals were pretty sturdy and held up well to washing and the application of the egg white and sugar.
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I have found that using a product called Just Whites works well and relieves the fear of raw eggs.
Brilliant and perfect, marty, thank you!