Orange blossoms

[maestra]

Enjoying the fragrance of orange blossoms in my yard this morning, I was reminded of an orange blossom panna cotta that I had a few months back. It was well-flavored but a poor example of panna cotta in general, and I always thought I might try it at home.
Of course I can buy orange blossom water or flavoring, but I'm wondering if anyone's used fresh orange blossoms to flavor things. I'm thinking panna cotta, ice cream, rice pudding . . . any possibilities for savory dishes? A search in the forums brought up nothing.

[rworange]

Here's an old recipe for orange flower and pink champagne jelly
http://splendidtable.publicradio.org/recipes/misc_champagnejelly.html

I was thinking you could use the same recipes as for rose petals ... and from this site it seems true. It has a number of recipes where you can use any edible blossom.
http://www.seedsofknowledge.com/edibleflowers.html

It includes ...
CANDIED FLOWERS
FLORAL LIQUEUR
FLOWER BUTTER
FLOWER HONEY
FLOWER JELLY
FLOWER OIL
FLOWER SYRUP

So given that, these rose petal recipe sites could be used substituting orange blossoms
http://www.amityheritageroses.com/Edible.html
Carrot Slaw with Rose Petals
Rose Petal Sugar
Rose Petal Ice
http://www.asimplerway.com/archives/000206.html
Rose Vinegar
Rose Petal Punch
Kathreen's Rose Petal Ice Cream
http://suzette.typepad.com/the_joy_of_soup/2003/05/rose_petal_reci.html
Rose Petal Fruit Salad
Rose Petal Omelette
Coeur La Creme with Rose Petals
Rose Petal Drink
Rose Petal Pound Cake with Rose Petal Syrup
Rose Petal Sandwiches
Rose Petal Drop Scones
Rose Petal Cookies
Rose Petal Tea
Chilled Pear and Rose Petal Soup
Salad with Rose Petal Dressing
Linguine and Rose Petal Pesto
Grilled Chicken with Rose Petal Mango Sauce
Rose Petal Jam Tarts
Green Tea and Rose Petal Popsicles
Rose Petal Ice Cream
Rose Petal Wine
Rose Petal Ice Cubes

I guess some beers use fresh orange blossoms for beer, so in terms of how to harvest the petals this might apply if you use them to cook with ...
http://www.maltosefalcons.com/recipes/20060701.php

'There's also a trick to collecting them ... take only the blossoms that have just opened ... You can see the sticky, sugary stem-like projections inside the blossom that emit the aroma ... If you pick them too early, you get a "green" flavor, like an orange peel. If you pick them too late ... they don't offer as much aroma."

If you Google on recipe "fresh-rose-petals" there's tons of recipes out there you could convert to orange blossoms, I am guessing ... so thinketh rwORANGE.

They might be nice to garish a cake or cupcakes ... or float on champagne or a mimosa.

And there's always Moroccan Tea
http://www.ummah.net/family/recipes/tea.html
http://www.geocities.com/anahita_whit...