WITH “MISCELE & SNACK” BY METTI UN FIORE AND THE SISTER’S GIN AN INNOVATIVE PROPOSAL TO ADD THE TASTE OF FLOWERS TO HAPPY HOUR
Innovate the aperitif by following the trail of edible flowers: colors and flavors that chase and intertwine from cocktails to appetizers. The aesthetic impact is assured, but the palate will also be surprised by an experience that embodies an all-Italian production: edible flowers grown in the Veneto region that become the perfect ingredients for snacks and gin.
It all starts from the greenhouses of L’Insalata dell’Orto: the Venetian company is the main European producer of edible flowers with 35,000 square meters of dedicated greenhouses in its headquarters in Mira (Venice).
Over 240,000 plants are grown here, and at peak periods, 100,000 fresh flowers are hand-picked a day. A part of these is destined for dehydration: a delicate process which, thanks to a latest generation machinery, works at temperatures below 40 degrees, removing more than 97% of the water content from the botanicals, but leaving their appearance and color, as well as their intrinsic characteristics.
This is precisely the raw material that gives rise to the new Metti un Fiore “Miscele & Snack” – the company’s brand dedicated to edible flowers (www.mettiunfiore. it) – made up of six different mixes including the Aperitif mix.
“These are appetizing edible dehydrated flowers enriched by the intensity of toasted and salted dried fruit and seeds: a snack to be enjoyed that gives the possibility of adding the taste of flowers to happy hour – explains Sara Menin, product developer manager of L’ Insalata dell’Orto – It is a proposal capable of innovating the aperitif moment, a novelty which is also interesting from a nutritional point of view and allows establishments to push on the refined proposal, to leverage on health trends, but also to bring unusual colors and flavours, offering customers an exclusive experience that they will want to repeat later.
We have already launched the “Miscele & Snack” range on the retail channel in handy little jars and now we are ready to serve Horeca as well: taking care of all the processing in-house we have great flexibility in packaging, from single portions to 2 kg vacuum bags, so as to satisfy all the needs of the away from home”.
Dehydrated flowers can be an excellent accompaniment for example for a Gin Tonic and, if desired, you can continue on the floral path with The Sister’s Gin (www.thesistersgin.com), a distillate that contains the spirit of the lagoon and speaks the language of flowers.
“The soul of The Sister’s Gin are our fresh edible violets, which we grow a few hundred meters from the Venetian sandbank – explains Menin – Our gin is different because we only use fresh botanicals: from an olfactory point of view, the difference is noticeable clearly and allows a sensory journey that is not at all obvious. The ingredients are cold macerated: avoiding thermal processes in the raw material, the organoleptic characteristics of the flower are felt in the gin”.
And so, the flavors of the lagoon can be rediscovered in the floral notes present in the Cold Compound Gin and in the new London Dry. “Ideal in mixing but also very appreciable in purity for its great perfume and aromatic complexity, our London Dry demonstrates how the possibilities of using edible flowers are truly multiple – concludes Sara Menin – and in the world of mixology they can give great inspiration”.
