ANTEA – Edible flowers: a new outlet for the horticultural sector in France and Italy

Following the crisis that hit the decorative horticulture sector on both sides of the French-Italian border, the Italian and French markets have chosen to set themselves apart by offering an innovative, high quality product. 

To this end, small and medium enterprises have turned to edible flowers, which are starting to move into the traditional food market, but also into the gastronomic restaurant sector. 

A commercial sector with a highly regional connotation

The value of these flowers is not purely decorative. They also have nutritional characteristics, which need to be defined and promoted. One of the objectives of the project is to eventually use the cross-border concept of the already internationally renowned Riviera dei Fiori as a sort of brand identifying a high-quality commercial sector for the production of edible flowers. 

There were many challenges. First of all, it was necessary to convince French and Italian SMEs about the commercial potential of the edible flowers market, which was still little-known and primarily tied to demand from top chefs. There was a need to make the sector viable and economically attractive in a relatively short space of time. It was for this reason that a living-lab was set up. This is a platform in which all the project actors participate (universities, chambers of agriculture, chefs, producers and research centres).

Next, it was necessary to ensure continuity of research and innovation to define and promote the nutritional characteristics of edible flowers and broaden the range of varieties, establish a written protocol of the technical itineraries (production, propagation, conservation, transport, protection of crops) and set up an innovative production, commercialisation and consumption system for the product.

Finally, a gastronomic and cultural route needed to be defined, to attract interest from consumers and help them access the product by democratising the distribution of these flowers.

Research, communication and writing of a recipe book

In preparation, there was in-depth research and experimentation, using innovation to support new analysis and sustainable production methods, verification of the absence of toxic substances or allergens, and agricultural, distribution and conservation strategies. 

This was followed by intensive communication and outreach work: cooking demonstrations, illustrative gardens, and international exhibitions and fairs. This attracted the interest of popular TV shows and generated national newspaper articles. It seems likely that the project’s popularity has benefited the companies that produce edible flowers, particularly in Italy, because one of them has experienced a noticeable increase in sales of edible flowers over the last two years.

There have been targeted events, including seminars on the different plant varieties, growing techniques, etc. Some projects are still in progress, such as the writing of a bilingual book of edible flower recipes containing the organoleptic profiles of 40 varieties of flowers, around 30 recipes and a series of simpler recipes.

Many of the actions are now complete:

creation of technical profiles containing information on organoleptic and nutritional characteristics, farming, culinary usage, etc.;training in usage and farming techniques for edible flowers, in hospitality institutes in Liguria, agricultural training institutes and the apprentice training centre (Centre de Formation par l’Apprentissage) in Alpes-Maritimes;creation of permanent gardens for the presentation of edible flowers;themed events (workshops, professional gatherings, cooking demonstrations);studies on the productivity of the different species, and on the time and stage when they should be harvested;creation of floral flavoured salts and sugars (CREAM – Nice), which attracted the attention of certain top chefs in Monaco;development of a sun-drying system for the flowers;the model established by the project (cooking demonstrations, online sales, packaging, etc.) is being adopted by certain SMEs. 

For each partner of the project, two to three jobs offering fixed-term contracts have been created for the duration of the project.

Total investment and European funding

Total investment for the project ‘Antea - Edible Flowers: Innovations for the Development of a Cross-Border Sector’ is EUR 1 759 682; the European Regional Development Fund contribution is EUR 1 495 729 through the ‘Italy – France (Alps – ALCOTRA)’ operational programme for the 2014-2020 programming period. The investment falls under the ‘Promoting business investment in R&I’ priority.