Just outside my kitchen window is a sprawling lilac bush. For most of the year it fades unnoticed into the background. In winter, tits and finches sit on the bare branches and crack open the seeds from the feeder. In summer the dark leaves cast cool shadows, where the chickens like to gather on hot days.
But in the spring, just around the time May turns to June, it becomes the center of all attention: the pièce de résistance of the garden. The shrub explodes in a profusion of deep purple blossoms that weigh down the branches. Their scent wafts in through the open window and wafts through the house, intoxicatingly sweet – the perfect complement to the sweetness of early summer, when time slows down, the days stretch into an endless twilight and everything seems possible.
Usually during this time you will find me frantically collecting bouquets of the blossoms and putting them in mason jars and coffee mugs – whatever I can find. But despite my attempts to fully enjoy their fleeting, fleeting beauty, they always seem to be gone too soon. It’s part of what makes them so special, I think.
This year I decided to try to preserve a touch of their majesty by soaking the flowers in the liquid, amber honey we collected from our beehives last fall. It was a huge success, and I’ve been kicking myself for not thinking of it sooner. Each drop delivers a hint of delicate, lilac nectar to whatever you add it to: a bowl of fresh berries, an ice-cold batch of lemonade, a slice of buttered toast. I only wish I had made more. Like the blossoms themselves, the honey will be long gone before I’m ready to get rid of it.
Recipe for lilac honey
Ingredients:
- 1 cup lilac flowers
- 1 ½ cups liquid honey (preferably raw from a local beekeeper)
Instructions:
- Remove the lilac flowers from the stems and place them in a clean glass jar.
- Pour the honey over the flowers and close the jar with a tight-fitting lid.
- Place it in a sunny window and let it steep for a week or more, or until the flavor is to your liking. Once you are happy with the flavor, strain out the flowers and store them in a cool, dark place until ready to use.
Enjoy it drizzled over yogurt, ice cream, waffles – as a sweetener for tea or cocktails – baked into cakes, spread on toast or however you like. The world is your oyster…
Writer Danielle Charles Davies has a BSc in Herbal Sciences from Bastyr University and completed the two-year clinical training program at the Vermont Center for Integrative Herbalism in Montpelier, VT. Her articles have appeared in Taproot, The Journal of the American Herbalist Guild, and Kindred Magazine, among others. She lives in Northern Michigan with her husband, two dogs and eight ducks. She blogs at www.bluemoonkitchen.com.
For educational purposes only. This information has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, or to sell any product.
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