Lilac flowers are edible, but they are astringent so eating too many will dry your mouth out, and taste slightly bitter. If you want to use them, as with all perfumed flowers, they can be overwhelming, and a little is better than a lot.
Use as an edible garnish on cakes, ice cream and cocktails. You can also add a small number of fresh flowers into the batter of cakes, scones and cookies, but too much may be unpleasant.
One of the best ways to use them is to make Lilac Sugar to add to your baking, a Lilac Syrup to pour over ice cream or use as a base for cocktails, or make Lilac Infused Honey to use in baking, teas and drinks. You can crystallize the flowers for later use as a decoration on biscuits and cakes.
Lilac Infused Honey
Half fill a clean jar with freshly picked flowers. Warm your honey a little and pour over the flowers. Fit the lid. Infuse for a month. You can strain this by warming the honey a little again and pouring through a sieve into a clean jar.
Lilac Sugar
To make lilac flavoured sugar, layer fresh lilac flowers and sugar in a jar and let it sit in a dark place for a day. Sift out the flowers. Use the sugar for baking.
Lilac Syrup
1 litre/ 4 cups water
250 ml/ 1 cup lilac flowers
50 gm sugar
Pour the water over the violets and stand overnight. Strain, discarding the flowers, add the sugar to the retained liquid. Heat gently for 20 minutes (do not boil), strain again. Keep refrigerated and pour over fruit salads, puddings, ice cream.
© Anna Franklin, The Hearth Witch’s Garden Herbal, forthcoming, Llewellyn, 2023
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