Experience Edible Flower Lollipops

Recently I stumbled across an etsy.com listing for Sugar Bakers Bakery. This unique edible flower sweet shop, located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has a wide range of baked goods and confectionary delights. The sweets incorporate a variety of healthy, gluten free, vegan, GMO free and kosher ingredients. But the thing that stands out the most is their assortments of organic edible flower lollipops.

Edible flowers are a current trend being served up by restaurants, bars and shops in a variety of dishes, drinks and desserts. To many Americans, the concept of eating flowers may be an exotic one, but edible flowers are not a new thing. Cultures across Asia, India and Europe have been garnishing their cuisine with colorful flowers for centuries. Even in America, several decades ago, you would have found florally adorned recipes in cookbooks.

As a child, growing up in the Dominican Republic, the concept wasn’t at all foreign to me. One of my favorite memories involves the sweet fragrance of sugar covered rose petals on a spring afternoon. My sister and I would sit on the front porch enjoying these delicate crispy treats. With the warm breeze on our faces, all our problems would disappear.

The sweet shop's sweets range from flower drink sweeteners, candied flowers, crystallized flower cupcake toppers and others.  My favorites are the very popular Gourmet Edible Flower Giant Lollipops.

The owner of this sweet shop, Janet, will whip up any combinations of flavors and colors. The sweet shop uses organically grown fruits and flowers for your special order of lollipops.  The flowers and fruits come right from her farm in Pittsburgh. 

There is an almost endless arrangement for your lollipops of edible flower and flavors made to order.  New flavors are added on a regular basis. Any grouping of violets, lavender, pansies, roses, fuchsia, violas, and daisies  can be combined with your choice of flavors including champagne, marshmallow, orange, grape, watermelon and many more.

If that selection doesn’t make your mouth water, maybe what you really want is something with a kick. Don’t worry because Janet has you covered! The shop will add a splash of real Crown Royal, Jack Daniels or Jose Cuervo to your edible flower sweets. 

"It is wonderful to be here and be able to fulfill a dream of having a little farm business that I enjoy and that my grandchildren enjoy too," said Janet of her little shop.  However, she stresses that she also gets a great deal of satisfaction from the smiles of her happy customers. Don’t ask for the recipe of her edible flower lollipops though, because it’s a safely guarded family secret.