Beautiful & Simple Spring Lilac Recipes!
Fresh blossoms, chirping birds and beautiful fragrant lilacs are a sign that spring has finally arrived. Did you know that lilacs are edible? You can use them to add a delicate aromatic flavour to many recipes. Go ahead and chop up some lilac petals and mix them in with your pastries and scones. Make your salads special by tossing some petals throughout or garnish spring cocktails and pitchers of lemonade! Whatever you choose, it is sure to surprise and delight!
Here are four easy lilac recipes for you to try this spring!
Yoghurt cheese With Lilacs & Chives
Lilacs and chives are both spring garden ingredients. This soft cheese is sensational and very easy to make. You can find the recipe HERE
Lilac Simple Syrup
2 cups purified water
3 cups lilac flowers (be sure to remove all of the bitter green stems)
A handful of berries (raspberry, blackberry, blueberry etc).
Combine the water and sugar and gently heat until the sugar is dissolved. Add the lilac flowers and berries and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat, strain and pour into a sterilized bottle. Store in the refrigerator.
Serving Suggestions: Add to fizzy water, lemonade, cocktails or drizzle over ice cream & porridge!
Lilac Sugar
Making lilac sugar is very simple! Layer a sterilized mason jar with equal parts of clean, dry lilac flowers & sugar. Be sure to pluck the lilac flowers from the stem and remove all of the bitter green bits. Leave a gap at the top of the jar so that you can shake the contents. Shake daily for a week and then sift the sugar to remove the petals. Store in an airtight container.
Serving suggestions: Lilac sugar is lovely sprinkled on desserts or used to sweeten herbal teas.
Lilac Honey
Making lilac infused honey is easy. Fill a sterilized mason jar with clean, dry lilac flowers. Be sure to pluck the flowers from the stem and remove all of the bitter green bits. Pour honey over petals until the jar is full. Store in a cool dark location. Shake before using.
Serving Suggestions: use to sweeten teas, desserts, lemonade and marinades.
Additional Inspiration
Here's a wonderful list of edible flowers from West Coast Seeds
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Oh! We have a lilac tree on the edge of our property and I NEVER once considered using them for culinary reasons!
I am a yogurt fiend lately!
NOw I can't wait for springtime when these lovelies will bloom!
I am literally dying for spring. It's torture right now. I feel like a caged bird :) Thank goodness for spring planning, it's helping to keep me sane.
That yoghurt cheese is so amazing, I could eat it every day. Everyone seems to love it. It's always the first to go on the cheese platter and heck ...its guilt free so we can eat twice as much of it right? ;) Now I have a craving so I'm going to have to whip some up!
SAME here! I was so hopeful for spring time because we had two days last week that we near 50 degrees... then Saturday night into yesterday we got 7 inches of snow... the second Superbowl Sunday snowstorm for us in three years.
I've never made yogurt cheese but it makes me wonder if I can use my kefir milk in place of the yogurt.
yes, you can. Someone here told me about it ...I can't remember who it was though ... I'll take a look.
it was @amymya. Here's what she said: "I make kefir and just let it sit til it separates, then use like a turkey baster to suck up the whey, take out the grains, then strain out more whey with a cheesecloth. Add in salt etc. This is very tangy stuff!"
I had no idea they were anything but pretty! Thanks!
Wow! These are some really neat ideas! Thanks for this post! ♥
Glad you like it. Once I learned about edible flowers I became quite obsessed.
I bet! I have been experimenting with making soft cheese from our goats' milk, so the petals in the cheese in particular intrigue me! Ill have to find a different edible flower though, I do not have any lilacs...
One of my dreams is the be able to make real cheese. I envy you :)
rose petals are lovely, as is fireweed & clover. At the bottom of the post is a link to an article with all kinds of edible flowers that might give you ideas!
Great, Ill check it out, thanks!
I never knew they were anything but beautiful and extremely fragrant; appreciate the information!
Glad you liked it :)
I love your photos. I will have to try and make the lilac syrup recipe. I never have tried lilac syrup.
it is unique and quite lovely. Most often people can't tell what it is or that its "floral".