Hello there, Monica Reinagle, the nutrition diva here.

A couple of weeks ago, someone asked me about a new ingredient called Coffee Cherry Flower.

And I hadn't run across this before, so I did a quick Google search and I found that it's being

touted as a nutritional powerhouse.

So of course I had to investigate further and here's what I learned.

Coffee flower isn't really a flower and although it is from the coffee plant it doesn't taste or smell anything like the roasted

coffee beans that we know and love. You see, coffee beans are actually seeds

and like many seeds, they grow inside of fruit and the fruit that surrounds a coffee bean is called a coffee cherry.

After harvesting the coffee beans the coffee cherry has traditionally been discarded.

Billions of pounds of coffee fruit

were simply being thrown out every year.

But now this tasty part of the plant

is being reclaimed as an edible crop.

The cherries are dehydrated and ground into a fine powder,

sold as coffee flour or coffee cherry flour.

But it really functions more like a spice

or a flavoring agent than a true flower.

You can buy coffee cherry flower online and you'll also see it in stores that

specialize in healthy foods including some Trader Joe's.

And chefs, food bloggers, even mixologists have taken interest,

and they've been experimenting with it as an ingredient in drinks,

baked goods, dips, and desserts.

...