The Home - Eat Your Spring Flowers!

 

    As I was trimming the plentiful chickweed to dry for my chickens' store of winter greens, I noticed the yard was covered with dandelion blossoms lying close to the round. These first flowers don't rise on a long stalk, but dot the yard with bright yellow spots. Nearby, the wild violets are starting to bloom.

    Both of these can be combined to make a fantastic, thirst quenching lemonade.

    This is not your average lemonade. It has a similar quality to Haymaker's Punch, a pioneer drink sent out to farmers as they sweated under the prairie sun in the fields. Water alone did not hydrate; haymaker's punch (or switchel) is a sports drink of the people. Sometimes it was made with ginger and sometimes vinegar and sometimes both. Molasses or honey was the usual sweetener as sugar was very expensive and reserved for fine cakes, tea, and coffee.

RECIPE: DANDELION & VIOLET LEMONADE

  1. Fill a quart or half gallon jar with dandelion and violet blossoms. 
  2. Wash your lemons, and squeeze a few lemons into the jar. I made two separate quart jars and used about 5 lemons (I had some cut pieces and halves plus two whole lemons).
  3. Chop some of the rinds and throw them in also.
  4. Fill with spring water, purified water, or tap water. You want to avoid heavily chlorinated water which will make it taste bad.
  5. Let this sit outside in the sun a day or two. 
  6. Strain, squeezing all the good juice from the flowers and rinds, add about 1/8 cup sugar per half gallon, and refrigerate.
    This drink as a rather grapefruit-y quality even with the sugar, but the flowers themselves give the drink a wonderful floral taste. 

MORE PURPLE AND YELLOW RECIPES and uses!


RECIPE: DANDELION BLOSSOM FRITTERS
  1. Collect and wash 2 cups of dandelion flowers. Let dry on some paper towel.
  2. Make a loose batter of 1 c. flour, 1 egg, and up to 1 c. milk, adding half at first and then as much as is necessary to make a pancake-like batter. 
  3. Heat oil or bacon grease in a fry pan.
  4. Holding the stem of each flower, dip it into the batter and place in the pan, flower side down. 
  5. Once they are brown, flip them over.
  6. Serve with powdered sugar or honey or sprinkle cheese over them. They can be eaten sweet or savory.
RECIPE: DANDELION FLOWER FRITTER CAKES
    This is similar to the individual fritters, but instead, you simply add the flowers to the batter and fry like pancakes.
  1. Mix up your favorite pancake batter recipe or use this recipe:
  2. Mix 1 cup flour, 2 tsp baking powder, and a pinch of salt. Beat 1 egg. Add 1/2 cup milk or water, 2 TBSP oil, and stir in 1 cup of dandelion flower blossoms.
  3. Fry these up like pancakes and serve hot with jam, syrup, or butter.

RECIPE: VIOLET JELLY

Ingredients: 
  • 2 cups packed violet flowers - no leaves or stems
  • 4 cups boiling water
  • 1/4 cup lemon juice
  • 4 cups sugar
  • 1 pouch powdered pectin
  1. Place flowers in a jar and pour boiling water over them. Infuse 24 hours, then strain.
  2. Pour the liquid into a pan (about 3 1/2 to 4 cups). Add the lemon juice and watch the color change! Then add the pectin.
  3. Bring this to a boil and then add the sugar and stir well to dissolve. 
  4. Boil another 1-2 minutes and remove from heat.
  5. Stir and skim any foam for 5 minutes.
  6. Pour into 5 prepared (washed and sterilized) half pint canning jars, leaving 1/4" headspace at the top. 
  7. Wipe off the rims and put lids and rings on. Finger tighten.
  8. Process in a water bath canner for 10 minutes (up to 1000 feet). Then set aside to cool and seal for 24 hours.
All canning times are based on sea level to 1000 feet. If you live at a higher altitude, please consult a canning guide for processing times for jellies.


I also noticed a lot of other purple/pink and yellow edible flowers around town.

Forsythia flowers can be used to
  • top salads or garnish dishes
  • make jelly
  • make syrup
RECIPE: FORSYTHIA SYRUP
  1. Wash 1 cup of blossoms or shake off any bugs or dirt and then place them in a half pint jar or measuring cup. Top with 1 cup of boiling water. Let sit overnight.
  2. Strain the infused water.
  3. Add 1/2 cup honey to the water. Stir well. Add more honey if desired for thickness.
  4. This will need to be refrigerated like other syrups because of the amount of water in it. Use it just like pancake/maple syrup!
Lilac flowers smell better than they taste, but they can be used as
  • Infused drink: let blossoms stand in cold water for a couple of hours. Strain and drink.
  • icing decorations on cakes
  • cordial
  • preserved in layers of white sugar for use throughout the year

RECIPE: SUGARED LILACS
  1. Wash your buds well and let dry completely; moisture will create mold.
  2. Put a little sugar in a pint or quart jar, add flowers and layer up until your last layer of flowers is covered with sugar. 
  3. Cap tightly and shake the jar daily for 7 days. Your lilac blossoms should be candied and ready for use in and on baked goods.
Redbuds are wonderful for
  • jelly (the jelly is made much like violet jelly by adding the infused flower water to cook with sugar and pectin)
  • baked into cookies or cakes
  • used as garnishes or in salads


Look for these in your area starting April 1st. You will have about 2-3 weeks of blooming and lots of recipes to try out.

But wait....those violet greens also make wonderful foods, and they will be available long after all the blossoms are gone. This will be our next post! Violet Leaf Recipes!

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