In Bengal, flowers aren’t just for garlands or puja thalis. They often end up sizzling in oil or simmering in curries. And, it isn’t just the fancy elderflower or the blue pea, or jasmine in the tea.

The idea for Phool bloomed on the ghats of the Ganges. Standing by the river in his hometown of Kanpur, co-founder Ankit Agarwal witnessed a startling contradiction: temple flowers were being dumped, ...