Sunflower

 "Elements of Sunflower"

Sunchoke Mousse / Sunflower Seeds / Wattleseed / Mascarpone / Acacia Honey Sorbet

I wanted to create a dessert focusing on a flower, yet using every element of the product. The dish has multiple components but focuses on sunflowers and acacia flowers. The main component is a mousse made from sunchokes. Sunchokes are the root of a type of sunflower and also go by the name Jerusalem Artichoke. The sunchokes are sous-vided with brown butter and muscovado sugar, and are then pureed and used as the base for the mousse. The mousse has sweet yet earthy notes. The sunflower seeds are cooked in honey and sunflower oil. They are well salted and add a savory component.The two sauces are mascarpone and wattleseed. Wattleseed is an interesting product and is actually the seed of acacia flowers. We were able to obtain some of the ground wattleseed from Australia. The seeds are roasted and then ground and the flavor is similar to chicory root or coffee. The wattleseed adds a nice bitterness to the dish that is balanced by the sweet mascarpone. The sorbet is made with acacia honey. The sorbet is very subtle but heightens the floral notes of the dish. It is not pictured, but the dish is then garnished with buttery-herbal sunflower sprouts and marigolds. With the plating, I wanted to try to recreate the colors of mums. The themes are flowers and fall so I wanted to represent the colors of fall by using brown, orange, and gold components.