Lilac Simple Syrup

Fresh pale lilac flower clusters in a metal bowl before the individual flowers are pulled. — This harvest yielded about 2 cups of individually pulled flowers.

A delicate spring syrup made with fresh, individually hand-pulled lilac flowers. A gentle start and a long, cold steep let the lilac shine without quickly heating the flowers.

Ingredients

2 cups individually hand-pulled fresh lilac flowers
2 cups water
2 cups cane sugar
A couple of orange and lemon peels (recommended)
A pinch of salt

Directions

Pull the flowers

Pick fresh lilacs, then individually hand-pull each flower from the clusters. Keep the nice pinkish or whitish flowers. Leave out brown flowers and remove all green parts, which can make the syrup bitter. The harvest in the photo yielded about 2 cups of pulled flowers.

Start gently

Use equal volumes of pulled lilac flowers, water, and cane sugar: for 2 cups of flowers, use 2 cups water and 2 cups sugar.

Gently warm the water without bringing it to a boil. Add the cane sugar and stir. Once the sugar is mostly dissolved, turn off the heat while the syrup is still warm.

Add the lilac flowers, the orange and lemon peels if using, and a pinch of salt. Mix everything together, stirring to finish dissolving the sugar. The citrus peels help bring out the lilac character.

Steep overnight

Let the syrup cool, then cover and refrigerate for 12–24 hours. Strain out the flowers and peels after the overnight steep.