"O" is for Osmanthus: Explorations in Cake

Osmanthus is an ingredient that is gradually becoming familiar to the American palate. The dried blossoms are redolent of apricot, lemon and blonde leather, the later of which may seem unusual to the uninitiated palate. Saffron has the same animalic quality as osmanthus, but its leather note is rounded out by impressions of hay, honeyed musk, and almonds. How an ingredient is used in food preparation determines the way we perceive its flavor. The leatheric aspect of osmanthus is easily tempered when the blossoms are used to flavor tea or fowl, but osmanthus is especially delicious and well-tamed when used to make an infused sugar for pastry.

Making an infused sugar using osmanthus is quite simple. Dried osmanthus blossoms are combined with coarse grade sugar. The two ingredients are then ground together and allowed to macerate for at least a week. Glass Petal Smoke's recipe for Osmanthus Teacake makes use of this technique so you can experience the flavor of osmanthus. There's an added health benefit too; osmanthus blossoms are rich in carotenoid antioxidants. Go ahead. Have your cake and eat it too.

Osmanthus Teacake

Recipe by Michelle Krell Kydd 

Serves 9-12

Ingredients:

·      2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

·      ¼ cup golden flaxseed meal

·      1½ teaspoons baking powder (non-aluminum)

·      ¼ teaspoon baking soda

·      ½ teaspoon sea salt (non-iodized)

·      ½ cup raw cane (or turbinado) sugar for infused sugar

·      ½ cup dried Osmanthus petals for infused sugar

·      1 cup low fat, low sodium buttermilk (room temperature)

·      1 tablespoon almond extract

·      2 large eggs (slightly beaten, room temperature)

·      ⅓ cup sweet unsalted butter (melted and cooled)

·      3 ounces golden raisins

Directions for Making Infused Sugar:

·      Layer sugar and flowers in a spice grinder or mini food processor.

·      Grind ingredients together making sure that the sugar remains crystallized (over-grinding produces a powder). The result should be a sugar evenly tinged with the color of the flowers.

·      Store in a sealed glass jar until ready to use.

 Instructions:

·      Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

·      Grease one 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan (or three 5.75 x 3 inch loaf pans) with cooking spray.

·      In a large bowl, sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add sugar and flaxseed meal, blending well.

·      In a medium sized bowl, mix eggs, melted butter and extract.  Add buttermilk and incorporate.  If using dried fruit, add it to the wet mixture.

·      Make a well in the center of the bowl with the dry ingredients and add wet ones.  Combine wet and dry ingredients together, folding gently with a silicone spatula.  Be careful not to over mix.

·      Pour batter into prepared pans and spread evenly.  Bake for 45 to 55 minutes (30 – 35 minutes from smaller loaves), or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean. 

·      Cool for ten minutes.  Remove from pans and place on wire rack to continue cooling.  Refrigerate or freeze for future use.  The large loaf yields 10-12 slices, the smaller loaf yields 5-6 slices.

Notes:

Dried Osmanthus Petals are available online from TeaSpring. The quality is superb and any flowers not used for baking can be infused with green tea for a delicious drink. Ten Ren Tea also carries Osmanthus, but dirt and particulate matter show up in this brand and it is not recommended.

Photograph of "Listening to Osmanthus," by Michelle Krell Kydd. 

Osmanthus: Flavor & Fragrance of the East

Osmanthus, an intensely rich and beautiful raw material, straddles the line between strange and familiar with its fruity, animalic character. How does one find solace in the apparent contradiction, let alone a daring heart? Perfume aficionados and professionals have always known that acceptance of a novel odor requires more than an open mind; it requires a willingness to risk aversion in order to experience pleasure.

Osmanthus fragrans is one of ten flowers held in high esteem by the Chinese, (wintersweet, peony, and chrysanthemum, orchid, rose, azalea, camellia, lotus and narcissus complete the list). Used to flavor semi-fermented green teas, Osmanthus’ apricot intensity sits above the verdancy of tender tea leaves and possesses the grace of a calligraphic flourish. Dried osmanthus flowers have a lush, jammy intensity that is slightly astringent, albeit less so than the fragrance absolute, which brazenly dallies with leatheric facets. Ironically, Steffen Arctander, esteemed author of Perfume and Flavor Materials of Natural Origin, had no experience using Osmanthus in perfumery when his book was published in 1961. This may have been due to the fact that trade with China in the 1960’s was not as prevalent as it is now.

In the United States, Osmanthus grows in the southeastern states, where it is often referred to as tea olive or sweet olive. Hové, a boutique perfumery in New Orleans, has been selling its Tea Olive fragrance for decades. I was introduced to the fragrance by a local antique store owner named Joan Good, a New Orleans icon who is famous for her garnet and cameo offerings. Once inside the perfumery, she led me to a slender bottle with an amber-hued liquid inside. The white spray nozzle was slightly sticky with a thick, brown resin, something you would see on a vintage bottle of perfume sitting on a vanity tray (I later learned that this is due to the high percentage of raw material that is used in creating the fragrance).

In a captivating drawl, the former poker mate of playwright Tennessee Williams said, “Tea Olive is quite beautiful to those of us that grew up in the south and the ladies here are quite fond of it, but its charm can be an acquired taste for some.” It didn’t take long for me to get past the “acquired” phase when I smelled Tea Olive. My childhood memories are colored by days spent at my father’s leather shop (which now houses offices at the Fashion Institute of Technology) and the taste of apricot fruit leather my mother and I procured weekly at Krum’s, in the Bronx (a candy landmark on the historic Grand Concourse).

The rich, fruity quality of Hové’s Tea Olive grows mouthwateringly ripe alongside an animalic aspect which merges with the wearer’s skin. The effect is more linear than what is found in traditionally constructed fragrances, but maintains the allure of a full bouquet. If you are one who delights in the melding of the olfactive and the gustatory, you can indulge in fragrance and flower. Culinary osmanthus is more easily procured due to increased trade with China and TeaSpring.com ships superior osmanthus at an affordable price. The tisane arrives at your door directly from China, complete with smiling Mao postage stamps on the parcel. You can add it to your favorite green tea (Taiwan oolong is best), infuse heavy cream for the making of truffles, or add it to vodka and macerate for up to four weeks to make an extract. The only limit is your imagination.

Notes:

Dried osmanthus flowers are available at Tea Spring.

Recipe for Glass Petal Smoke's Osmanthus Tea Cake can be found here.

Tea Olive perfume can be purchased at Hové.

Cameos and garnet jewelry are a specialty at Joan Good Antiques. (Joan Good passed away on April 6, 2017, the website for her store is no longer active.)

Arctander, Steffan. Perfume and Flavor Materials of Natural Origin. Carol Stream, Illinois. Allured Publishing, 1961.