THANKS INTERNET. Who knew so many flowers were edible!? While I’ve been working on designing my garden, I’ve also been learning more about all of the plants we already have growing here.
Our garden is fairly large and bordered by trees, bushes and flowers. It’s fun being in a new house the first year, especially as someone who really had little to no experience growing anything!
I was surprised every few weeks by some new thing popping out of the ground.
Last year, as the lilacs bloomed… a flower I had never appreciated until this past year… I noticed a shop online selling lilac sugar.
So, you can eat them?
Yep! They smell so sweet and are also edible. I attempted to make my own lilac sugar but it was a bit of a fail in our humid climate.
This spring, we have discovered that nearly ev- erything in our yard is edible! We have a umbrel- la lauren tree that makes a leaf essentially the same as a bay leaf which can be used for cooking in the same way.
By far the most surprising to learn of recently are the bright yellow forsythia blooms, magnolia blossoms and crabapple flowers are edible!
Unfortunately we cut our crabapple before they bloomed this year to make way for our new fruit trees, but I trecked across the yard to grab a few branches of forsythia to test them out.
Since we’re at home a lot and looking for ANY- THING to bring a little joy and change to our day to day life, I thought I’d make some fun sweet syrups for flavoring drinks out of the forsythia flowers.
The recipe for making a simple syrup is easy and adding any edible herb, flower or other flavorful addition is a fun way to experiment throughout the season.
The recipe is so easy.
Combine 1 cup water to 1 cup white granulated sugar on the stove until boiling.
Remove from heat and add rinsed flowers. Steep for 24 hours then strain.
Keep in the refrigerator for up to a month!
I also created a lavender syrup, one of my favorites to add to a London Fog tea drink (or a london fog cake with cream cheese frosting – yum!).
I will be also trying out this recipe throughout the growing season.
It is such a lovely treat to have on hand to add to sparkling water, a cocktail or an extra flavor in bak- ing.
The forsythia flavor is floral but also green and woody. It’s great with a sparkling soda and a squeeze of lemon.
