Lilacs are arguably the most lovely, fragrant, and iconic springtime flowers. This post will share how to make a simple syrup to add fragrance and flavor to the tea, cocktails, and more in short order. I will also explain why the syrup is NOT a pretty purple color. Here’s how to make Lilac Syrup!

This spring, I was determined to do several things with flowers that I hadn’t done in the past. One item on my floral to-do list was to make lilac syrup. As soon as the very, very old lilacs on the family ranch started blooming, I headed over with a pint jar and in about 10 minutes of picking, I had enough to make syrup.

Before picking, I did a little research. Many photos online of lilac syrup were of a vibrantly hued purple liquid. I thought that perhaps the flowers would hold their color when simmered, but I was skeptical.

I am guessing that those photos I saw, and that you may have seen, have been edited to maintain a vibrant purple hue. I could have fiddled with adding blueberries or food coloring but I didn’t fool with it. It wasn’t an unappetizing color and I’d argue that many of us should get used to a more naturally colored plate.

I also would guess that are some crafty folks out there who chose purple lilac flowers over their white or pink cousins because, consciously or unconsciously, they had seen the bright purple color and thought purple was the go-to bloom. I chose purple because they bloom first but now I know, as I’ll explain below, the color matters not.

I picked the flowers not one at a time, but by the pinch-full, and found that to be a quick method.

I picked what I guessed to be an overflowing cup full and headed home.

The flowers spent the night in the fridge without any ill effect.

How to Make Lilac Syrup

Give flowers a once over for stems and rinse if appropriate.

Measure your flowers. Don’t pack tightly into a cup, but smoosh down a bit. Let’s say you picked 1 cup of flowers for this ratio.

Combine equal parts water and sugar (1 cup + 1 cup) in a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Whisk and heat until sugar dissolves. Do not bring to a rolling boil.

Add lilac flowers. Simmer gently for 10 minutes. The flowers will wilt within minutes, your kitchen will smell heavenly, and you will notice that the syrup is a greenish brown color. That is appropriate.

Remove from heat and strain. I used a mesh strainer like this one.

Decant into a clean glass jar and store in the refrigerator.

Add syrup to:

Tea (I found it delicious in peppermint)

Cake frosting

Cocktails (vodka or gin)

Sparkling water

One way I discovered how to use this floral syrup is in cocktails.

I have found this syrup to be a delightful addition to any cocktail, even in a mixture as simple as 1 part syrup, 1 part libation, and 3 sparkling water. You won’t want to choose really strong-flavored alcohol, as the floral taste will be lost. Think vodka, or with juices like white grape or pear.

I absolutely love helping you think of ways to add more handmade and homemade into your life, and when it is your turn to host guests I want you to feel ready! I created a FREE Shrub Making Email Course where I pop into your email inbox with lessons about how to make homemade cocktails with fruit and vinegar syrups called shrubs.

I want to help you become the hostess you have always dreamed of being in the FREE Shrub Course. Sign up here!

What else could you add this lovely syrup too, Dear Readers? Share in the comments below! If you loved this flower-theme, hold on to your shorts. I have big plans for honeysuckle, more lilacs, roses, and more. Stay tuned 🙂

This post will show you how to take the edible violet flower and mix it with plain granulated sugar for a floral sweetener that will dress a dessert with sophistication and springtime color.

In my post about identifying wildflowers (the real flowers, not you awesome readers) I mentioned a great resource for foraging and finding edible flowers. This is the resource I suggest to help you dive into the world of dressing your dishes with flowers.
I know I usually don’t post on Wednesday, and lately I have only been posting once a week, but I thought I better get with the program and share this violet sugar post because the blossoms required are only around for so long and I didn’t want this post to find you after it was possible for you to pick some.

I’m not one to try new things just because they are trendy. I tried these sugared flowers because I thought they’d be a very simple preserve (they were) that would be inexpensive (check!) and would make a plain dessert or beverage super fancy (absolutely!).

Not only were they all these things, but they were also very easy and the process is applicable to other edible flowers.

Get the book, grab a jar, and head outside.

I picked about a quarter cup of wild yellow violets. Because these beauties attract butterflies and bees, (super important pollinators) I picked one blossom from each plant that had two or more flowers on it. I tried to pick in moderation to leave some blooms to attract the bugs that do the critical work of pollination.

I left as much stem as I could behind to eliminate having to snip them off in the kitchen and in about 10 minutes, I had about a quarter cup of flowers.

Inside, I dumped the violets out onto a white countertop with a bright light above. Because I saw tiny black bugs leaving the flowers, I knew they had to be rinsed. Had I not seen any, I might have skipped the wash because I’m really impatient.

I rinsed in a gentle stream of water in a colander. After they had drained, I blotted them dry with a kitchen towel.

You can choose as large a jar as you would like, but I chose the tiny jam jars because I had such a small quantity of flowers.

I layered a little sugar, then a layer of flowers, then more sugar, over and over until the jar was full of sugar and the flowers were covered.  Screw on lid and store in a cool, dry place.

The result is sugared flowers and flowered sugar that can be used to adorn a cake, freeze into ice cubes, sweetened tea, and more. The flowers can be separated with a wire strainer in short order, should you just want the flowers, say, for arranging atop pillows of fresh whipped cream or something lovely. Violets, in particular, are a somewhat delicate flower. Hearty rose petals would have held up better, and I will try that in a few months. The violets are vibrant color and are a little rumpled, but still lovely. By layering them in the very giftable tiny jam jar, you could actually layer them and give them with no steps in between.  What a sweet gift! 

One way I discovered how to use this pretty sugar is when rimming glasses for cocktails.

I have a big-time sweet tooth, and as much as I love a salty sip from a margarita glass, a fresh tasting cocktail with the festive sugar rim is right up my alley. This floral sugar is perfect; dip the rim of your wide mouth pint jar (or any cocktail glass!) in a little dish of coordinating fruit juice (citrus and apple are my faves), and then dip the now sticky edge into the violet sugar. Let the flowers stick if they will, and no worries if they don’t; you can use them to garnish the drink instead! Let the sweet edge firm up and then pour your cocktail.

I absolutely love helping you think of ways to add more handmade and homemade into your life, and when it is your turn to host guests I want you to feel ready! I created a full-fledged video course that teaches you in 15 quick, professionally edited videos (no time wasting silence or chit chat here!) how to make farmer’s market fresh cocktails like these:

I want to help you become the hostess you have always dreamed of being in the Wildflower Mixology Course.

Learn more here!

This post will explain how to avoid the endocrine disruptor bisphenol A, or more commonly known as BPA, which is a dangerous substance. Avoiding it is pretty simple; read on for the how-to! Ever since I was pregnant with my first child, I started to worry about health, whereas before, I couldn’t have been less interested.   As I read and learned, and grew larger and larger with my baby on board, I realized that since I hold no science degree, have just limited time, and really am not qualified to read and genuinely understand lengthy scientific journal articles and thus make solid conclusions, I was in a tight spot. In order to avoid some of the scary, or at least uncertain ingredients you buy with the prepacked everything at the grocery store, a person would have to spend a TON of time reading, researching, vetting, and otherwise fretting to determine if what they or their children were about to consume was dangerous or not.

For me, the solution was deciding that I would do my best to just buy and consume fewer prepackaged foods.

I’ll pause right there and fully, wholeheartedly admit that I am far from packaged-food free. There are a great many foodstuffs that I buy in a package- I haven’t the desire or time to make EVERYTHING we eat at home from scratch. I wouldn’t expect you or anyone else to either, but my goal with this post is to show you one way to reduce one avenue of BPA consumption. I’m not an all-or-nothing girl. Rather, I am a one-step-at- a-time mama. Step with me!

I came across a great article from Mother Earth News that was fairly easy to understand and outlined one major issue that I knew I could address, and help you address also.   The article explained that BPA (bisphenol A), an endocrine disruptor which is linked to several cancers, obesity, ADHD, infertility, and type-2 diabetes, is commonly used in the plastics used to package foods.   You probably already knew that, or had a rough idea anyway, that BPA is bad, and it is used in plastics that often are in contact with food.   You also probably have noticed that there are a great number of grocers and companies claiming they carry foods in packages that are “BPA-Free” which sounds really nice.

The trouble is, that as Mother Earth News explains, BPA-Free doesn’t actually mean it is safe, or that it is actually free from BPA.   The findings of the study were “alarming” and explain that, “67 percent of the cans tested (129 out of 192) contained BPA-based epoxy in the body and/or the lid.” Furthermore, “BPA was found in private-label cans sold at both Target and Walmart, the largest grocery retailer in the United States. In their private-label products, 100% of Target cans (5 out of 5), and 88% of Walmart cans (7 out of 8) tested positive for BPA-based epoxy resins. Our survey revealed that neither of these two major retailers has policies in place to eliminate BPA in canned food, unlike competing grocery retailers.” “Discount retailers (commonly known as ‘dollar stores’) were among the laggards in transitioning away from BPA in can linings. Our testing revealed that 83 percent of Dollar Tree and Family Dollar private-label cans (5 out of 6) and 64 percent of Dollar General private-label cans (9 out of 14) were coated with BPA-based epoxy resins. This is espe- cially a problem because discount retailers are often the major retail outlet in low-income communities—which already face the highest levels of BPA exposure.” That’s pretty darn alarming, right? The study did find some bright points, as “Amy’s Kitchen, Annie’s Homegrown (recently acquired by General Mills), Hain Celestial Group and ConAgra have fully transitioned away from the use of BPA and have disclosed the BPA alternatives they’re using. No BPA-based epoxy resins were detected in any of the cans tested from these brands.”

Unfortunately, that’s about all the good news from the study.

The types of linings of cans in the store are numerous, and I’ll directly quote the words of the study from www.toxicfoodcans.org to explain. “Five major coating types were identified among the 192 cans tested: acrylic resins, BPA-based epoxy, oleoresin, polyester resins, and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) copolymers. We know very little about the additives used in these compounds to give them the properties that make them stable and effective can linings. Our research does demonstrate that there are multiple formulations of most of these compounds, but there is no way to determine the specific chemicals used or how they are produced.”   Currently, there is NO WAY TO DETERMINE the specific chemicals. The study goes on to say “18% of retailers’ private-label foods and 36% of national brands were lined with a PVC-based copolymer. This is clearly a regrettable substitute, because PVC is a polymer made from vinyl chloride, a known carcinogen.”

The other take away that I think is the most powerful for you, busy reader, is that, “93 percent of Americans tested have detectable levels of BPA in their urine, suggesting that people are consistently exposed and re-exposed to BPA through the chemical’s presence in foods and from other sources.”

If you’ve just skimmed so far here’s the Wildflower’s Digest version: BPA is bad because it is linked to some pretty scary things like cancer. BPA is a plastic (though hard to see) liner inside cans of store-bought food. There are other BPA-like substances (also linked to causing cancer) that are called “BPA-Free” that also line many food cans. Eating foods packaged in cans lined with BPA or BPA-like substances leads to the consumption of BPA.

Here’s how I do my best to avoid this problem.

I learned how to can. Not very glamorous but 100% true. Canning has a really lame reputation as being old-fashioned (it is so cool!), dangerous (definitely not & absolutely not as dangerous as BPA!) time consuming (I’ll all about efficient & fast) and difficult (easy!). On my blog, I share a wide variety of tutorials about all manner of handmade & homemade food & craft education but canning is the one thing that benefits me day after day.

I’d like to invite you to jump start your desire to eat more healthy foods. Join the Healthy Meals Quicker Challenge and in 3 days you will be ready to start canning and avoid BPA!

 

It might be easy for some to stop by the farmer’s market every few evenings to grab the fresh produce you plan to eat but let’s be realistic, shall we?

Our meals aren’t always planned.

We rarely have time to shop- sometimes I don’t have time to Amazon Prime!

You are super busy.

Most of us don’t live in the salad bowl of the nation where produce is growing and fresh in stores 10 months of the year. Lots of us have pretty slim pickings at the grocery store October through March, if not longer.

The produce that is available in the store might have traveled a REALLY long ways to get there and might not taste that awesome as a result.

Canning is THE tool I use to preserve fresh fruits and veggies when they are fresh, inexpensive, and plentiful.

If the idea of preserving your own foods into clear glass jars (that are TRULY BPA free) has your interest, let me tell you a few things.

Canning can be fast– many batches of a dozen jars or more can be done in under an hour.

Canning is safe– we can only high acid recipes and techniques that are tested and proven by the USDA.

Canning is easy- Many recipes are just a few ingredients, and the process is SIMPLE once you’ve watched it a few times. I always say that I’d rather can every day of the year than cook a Thanksgiving dinner once.

Canning saves money– Imagine how much you’d save when you consider cutting food waste AND eating homemade. Canning doesn’t take a ton of equipment- you probably have almost every item you’d need already!

Canning saves time. An hour or two invested now means night after night of ready-made pasta sauce or wholesome salsa that is COOKED IN ADVANCE.

Canning makes it easy to eat healthy– there’s no added sugar in tomato sauce, or artificial ingredients, or imitation-fruit pieces. The foods you can still count as food.

Canning makes it easy to avoid allergens. I like to say that canning jars are clear both literally and metaphorically. You get to decide what goes in the jar and what stays out.

The satisfaction of opening a can of store bought canned food is that it is convenient. It seems cheap and easy. The flavor isn’t amazing, the quality is dubious, and after it is eaten it is probably forgotten.

The satisfaction of opening a jar of homemade pasta sauce you made yourself is enormous. The sauce is wholesome, flavorful, fragrant, and delicious. Imagine if you canned your own jam. Would you forget about those jars of goodness on the shelf and waste them? Toss the jar out with a spoonful left inside? No way! Every bite is savored and enjoyed.

Giving canned foods is the ultimate way to show your appreciation for a loved one. It bypasses the materialistic trap that most hostess gifts present and truly represents your gratitude.

I could go on and on about how canning is the ticket out stress city but I want to SHOW you.

I want to help you avoid BPA, eat healthier foods faster, and gain enormous satisfaction from canning your own produce. Join me in the 3 Day Healthy Meals Quicker Challenge!

 Still not convinced you should can? Take the quiz to find out!