Springtime is for Lilacs
In my area I am just about to be able to harvest a few things from my garden, but until then I am making do with other people's abundance. Upon learning that a friend had copious amounts of gorgeous lilacs I asked if I could have some to experiment with as lilacs are in fact edible.
There are several things I have been working on in my experiments - some of which really deserve a blog post of their own, but here are a few things you can do with your lilacs:
- Lilac sugar
- Lilac syrup
- Lilac jelly
- Lilac ice cream
- Dried lilacs
- Candied lilacs
- Lilac meringues
Some of these are as simple as cramming some (dry) lilac blossoms in a jar with some sugar and some - like the ice cream - are more complicated. In other news I have found my most favourite ice cream recipe and will be sharing that in the days to come! Stay tuned!
LILAC SUGAR HEARTS
- Remove lilac blossoms from stems. The stems are not poisonous, but get do not have a nice taste so you don't want that in your sugar.
- Put large heap of lilac blossoms in mortar and grind with pestle into a juicy pulp.
- Add white sugar until mixture is a damp consistency.
- Press damp lilac sugar into molds and wait a few days until completely dry before removing.