Foraging in the rain again II: Meadowsweet
I first discovered meadowsweet when I did a couple of weeks work experience at Fäviken back in the Summer of 2012. The frothy little white flowers pop up like clouds in the damp parts of meadows. They are quite unassuming but go a bit closer you are hit with a heady fragrance of almond, cherry with a hint of herby greenness. For me this is the ultimate fragrance and flavour. It beats elderflower by miles.
It was another wet rainy day when I had some time to pick a basket of meadowsweet. Unlike elderflower it does require wading through tall grass and as the flowers are smaller it takes longer to pick.
The flowers were spread out on tea towels and left to dry overnight as they were quite wet. The following day I made a simple sugar syrup (1kg sugar and 1l water, stirred and brought to a boil until the sugar has dissolved) and added the debugged flowers to the syrup. A couple of stirs, lid on and the syrup was left to cool overnight.
The flowers were spread out on tea towels and left to dry overnight as they were quite wet. The following day I made a simple sugar syrup (1kg sugar and 1l water, stirred and brought to a boil until the sugar has dissolved) and added the debugged flowers to the syrup. A couple of stirs, lid on and the syrup was left to cool overnight.
The following day I poured the syrup through a sieve lined with a clean tea towel. Squeezed out any excess syrup from the flowers and bottled it up. I froze most of the syrup (not in glass bottles) as it’ll keep better.
The syrup can be used as a cordial, cocktails, poured over ice cream, fruit or a base in a dessert. It’s absolutely divine!
