EVERYTHING LILAC!
lilac: blossoms ONLY
My most exciting floral to forage in the spring. Please note that the stems, leaves, roots of lilac are not considered edible and you will want to pick the petals off individually. This is a labour of love.
I have tried all kinds of blends with lilac and flavored things from kombucha to lemonade, to infused vinegar and sugars. I find it to be a flavor you can easily lose when using the method of simmering fresh flowers for a simple syrup, for example. The floral lilac flavor is best captured through the method of essentially steeping tea with flowers for up to 24 hours, straining them, and adding sugar to the tea and simmering until a thicker, consistent syrup of your liking.
Even better, you could infuse sugar with lilac, make a cold brew with fresh petals and water for 24 hours, create a syrup from the infused sugar, and make your lemonade with those two ingredients, adding lemon juice to taste.
Infused sugar
I recommend taking a look at the blends and advice on Herbal Sugars via Herbal Academy. This is sugar used in the context of baking, and it is used up quickly after infusing for about 24 hours. When using the layering method of infused sugar (layering sugar, fresh plant matter, sugar, etc) there is a risk of waiting too long and that damp environment creating harmful bacteria that could make you sick. I highly recommend infusing for about 24 hours and then dehydrating. Many people will take the infused mixture and process it in the food processor to break florals / conifer tips / cloves or other herbs down finely. Once everything is dehydrated thoroughly and consistently, it is good for at least 3 months. I personally have used my sugars up to a year later if still dry and powdery in the container.
HONEY & VINEGAR
Both are simply adding flowers to honey or to vinegar. I have had the best result using a white wine vinegar and lilac petals. I kept it in a cool, dry place (not so dark that I forgot to shake it and taste it every once and a while). Eventually I strained out the petals and ended up layering other herbs into for another couple weeks. I found the lilac flavor stayed nicely and gets tastier with time.
Honey is the same, adding petals to honey at room temp. Eventually straining them out once it is sufficiently infused to your liking and for long term storage.
Don’t Wash your petals
All of these infusions are safest when the moisture content is as low as possible, which may even inform when you choose to gather your flowers. During rain may not be the time if using the flowers for this purpose, as you will need to thoroughly dry your flowers and likely wait a while. Best to let nature do that job and collect them on a dry, warm day as best you can.
LILAC & CONFIFER TIP LEMONADE
I enjoyed infusing white sugar with both spruce and fir tips and lilac. Once dehydrated, I blitz them up finely together in a food processor and stored the sugar. I made a cold brew water with some fresh lilac petals and spruce tips, made a simple syrup from the sugar, added lots of lemon and had a really wonderful lemonade.
