Munching Lilacs...

Spring Lilacs

   ...Little green herbs in pots...It is officially spring now.  I have managed to buy my first herbs of the season.  Basil, lemon balm, and lemon verbena are the first new arrivals to Le Petit Jardin. Today's breakfast was an omelet that included the first harvest of chive from my garden.  Glorious! Thyme is coming alive in Le Petit Jardin.  Today's project will be to purchase another metal tub and potting soil for the new plant arrivals.  It is also time to replace my garden gloves.  Another goal is to beat the Mad whacker before he attacks my lavender plants.  My game plan is to plant my lavenders in containers this year.  Since I have to abandon part of my back deck area due to my neighbor's satellite dishes, the challenge is on.  Many more of my plants will be shifting to containers.  And it looks as though some of the container garden will be moving onto the front deck.  
     Neighboring wind chimes are clanging out their tinny songs. Personally, I think it is too windy to put out my wind chime, but that will happen soon enough.  With spot tornadoes in the area, it is still a bit early for wind chimes to not end up down the road in someone else's yard.  In the meantime, dandelion flowers are popping up all over and my yard's grass is getting really tall. If I can get my lavender plants potted before the Mad Whacker comes around, I will be ready for the first mowing and weed whacking event of spring.  The pollen is monstrous this year and I am sneezing my head off!  Can't wait for that freshly cut grass to attack my poor nose, too!  Ah, spring!
     Proving that one is never too old to learn something new, I recently discovered that lilacs are edible. Who knew?!!  And how did I miss that little nugget of delightful information all these years?  After many years of making lilac water and potpourris I have newly discovered several tasty ways to enjoy that springtime treasure.  Just in time for this year's blossoms, lilacs can be made into jelly, simple syrup, lemonade, flavored sugar, ice cream, infuse honey, wine flavoring, cheesecake, and so much more.  Here is one recipe to start off using lilacs as an edible flower.

                                                     Lilac Syrup                                                             
                   The syrup is a simple syrup of mostly sugar water and lilacs.  Blackberries or blueberries                    may be used to enhance the color and flavor of the syrup.    
                                       1 quart of lilac blossoms, tightly packed           
                                       2 cups, raw cane sugar                                       
                                       2 cups water                                                       
                                       3-4 blackberries, or blueberries  (optional)       
                                       2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice                           
                   Make sure your flowers are bug-free and leaving out the stems and leaves as you pack
                   the blossoms into  quart-sized glass jar. Add the berries to the jar.  This will enhance the                      color as well as the flavor.  Boil the sugar and water for about 2 minutes while whisking.                      Remove from heat.  Carefully pour the hot syrup into the jar of lilacs until the syrup                            reaches the top of the jar.  The jar should be covered with a cloth and allowed to sit for
                   4 to 5 hours.  For the strongest flavor allow the jar to sit overnight.  When steeping is                           finished strain the syrup through a fine sieve making certain to press n the blossoms to                         extract all the syrup.  At this stage stir the lemon juice into the syrup.  Place the syrup into                   an air-tight container and refrigerate until use.  the syrup will keep for several months.     
                                                                                                                                                                 
More lilac recipes are available on line.  The recipe shown here may be found on www.thekitchenmccabe.com .  It is always fun to find a good website for herbal recipes and this one seems to have a lot of good things to read about and try.