Edible Flower Cordial

Things have been very busy around here. As it turns out, building a garden on raw land is incredibly time consuming. Who knew! But I did manage to eek together a moment away from building raised beds and planting a zillion dahlias to soak up the edible wildflowers blooming here at the homestead in the form of this tasty edible flower cordial. And I also got to use my some of my favorite new pieces from a local ceramicist, Notary Ceramics, so if you’re ooohing and aaahing over the pieces, that’s where to find them. There’s soooo many beautiful edible flower varieties, from roses to lavender to violas to lilacs to maple blossoms, it’s a wonderful array of different flavors and colors. To savor their flavor for a couple weeks, I like to preserve them in an edible flower cordial.

If you’re wondering what exactly a cordial is, you are not alone. I always thought it was some kind of fancy old-time British drink that English people had when it was too hot for tea. And I was kind of right. Basically, back in the day before refrigeration, cordials were a lovely way to preserve the flavor of fruits or flowers in liquid form. This is because you make a simple syrup and combine it with an acid like lemon juice, as well as the fruits or flowers. You let it all sit together for a day or two, then strain it. And then the sugar and acid in the cordial preserve the flavors for several weeks, since sugar is a natural preservative and so is lemon juice.

You can use any kind of edible flower to make this, or even a mix of different ones as I did, but keep in mind the way the flavors will play together. For example, I used Oregon Grape blossoms, which have an incredibly strong lilac-adjacent smell and flavor. I also used Osso Berry blossoms, which have an herbaceous smell and flavor, and Wild Red Flowering Currant blossoms, which have a musky smell similar to black currant berries. The combination of the three created a balanced cordial that wasn’t too “perfume-y”, and had a wonderfully complex flavor that ended up tasting VERY close to ripe peaches. It was pretty wild! And also addicting.

I hope this inspires you to use enjoy the edible flowers of the season, and as a note of caution, do not consume any flowers unless you know for certain they are edible. Also avoid flowers that may have been sprayed with pesticide/herbicide. And if you’re foraging flowers, never strip a plant of all its flowers. Flowers turn into berries and fruits that wildlife depend on for food. If you are foraging, take flowers from multiple different plants instead of all from one plant, and only take what you need Read More