HONEYSUCKLES

When you're passin' by....flowers drop and sigh
And i know the reason why
You're much sweeter....goodness knows
Honeysuckle....

~ Louis Armstrong

I knew as soon as I
walked outside this
morning after a night
of rain and smelled
the sweet scent that
filled the air it was
time, the honeysuckle's
are ready.
It's time to make a
few batches of honeysuckle
cordial. I have plans to
try honeysuckle ice cream
and I think honeysuckle
goats milk yogurt sounds
pretty good too.  Oh, it's time
to play!

Do you pick honeysuckles?

From:: Local Milk

Honeysuckle Cordial

yields 3 cups
So here’s the basic building block recipe, it’s basically a
honeysuckle simple syrup with the addition of citric acid
& lemon. The citric acid acts as a preservative and also
cuts the sweetness with a pleasant tart taste.

Ingredients

4 cups honeysuckle blossoms, picked over & rinsed
3 cups water
3 cups sugar[ I am using honey in place of sugar]
1 tsp citric acid (I found this in the supplement section at Wholefoods)
1/2 a lemon, zested & sliced thin

Cooking Directions

Bring water & sugar to a boil, stirring to dissolve all the
sugar. Pour hot syrup over the flowers in a heatproof
container. Stir in the citric acid, lemon zest, and the thin
slices of lemon. Let steep, covered, on the counter until
it reaches room temperature then place it in the fridge
and let it steep over night, totaling 24 hours. Strain
through cheese cloth or a very fine mesh sieve.
Store in the fridge.