"Edible flowers challenging to market"

Edible flowers are becoming increasingly popular. They are often used by chefs in restaurants to add color and flavor to their dishes. A new variety of edible flower, that is gaining a growing interest, is the edible orchid. "Even with the increasing popularity, edible flowers remain challenging to market" says Yogev Keidar, senior buyer of Agriver. .

Yogev Keidar at Fruit Logistica. On the right, edible viola above and edible orchids below.

Agriver is an Israeli exporting company of perishable products, like fresh herbs, exotic fruits, vegetables, baby leaves and edible flowers. According to Keidar, the edible flowers are one of their most popular products and they are still working on promoting them. They sell about 20 different kinds of edible flower, which are grown in Israel, the biggest farm of edible flowers in the world. The flowers are sold all over the world to wholesalers and restaurants. According to Yogev Keidar, the edible flowers are very popular in the Czech Republic, France and Russia.

Regarding trends in the edible flower sector, many similarities are visible with the ornamental sector. Over the last years, the orchid became increasingly popular. Due to this popularity, the demand for edible orchids rose. Agriver adopted to this demand and started to sell edible orchids approximately 3 years ago. These edible orchids are grown, together with non edible orchids, in a 4 acres farm of greenhouse in Israel. The growing technique for edible orchids is a different and unique process. For example, growers also need to take into account the residue levels of the flowers. Therefore little to no pesticides can be used.

The demand is good, so what makes the edible flowers challenging to market? According to Keidar, the main reason is the self life of the edible flowers. After harvesting, the flowers have a shelf life of 7-10 days. "So, after 3 or 4 days the flowers need to be at their destination". On the European market, another factor makes it harder to market the flowers: "The UK and Holland also grow edible flowers and it is hard to compete with them on the European market".

For more information:

Agriver
Yogev Keidar
T: +972-3-9061000
Email: yogev@agriver.co.il
www.agriver.co.il