Lilac Simple Syrup

With spring well and truly here many herbs, “weeds”, and flowers are in bloom, this means you can start sustainably foraging your cocktail ingredients!

Lilac simple syrup is one of my favorite additions to cocktails because it has a very light floral taste without the overpowering perfume taste that some store-bought cordials have. It is also very simple to make. The only thing to make sure is to harvest your lilac appropriately, ensure you cut only the soft green stems of your lilac bunches, and never the harder green/brown stems because this is were the blooms for next year start to develop. If you cut the harder green/ brown stems you could risk ruining your crop for next year!

Ingredients

About 1 1/2 Cups Lilac Flowers (no stems)

1 Cup White Sugar

2 Cups Water

Method

First, you want to soak your lilacs in warm water and gently agitate them to remove any unwanted debris, once they have soaked for 5-10 minutes strain them on to a clean hand towel to drain. At this point you can start removing the flowers from the stems, just pinch the head of the flower or bud and gently pull. They should pop out of their stem easily, this does take some time but it leaves you with a nicer cleaner simple syrup. I like to save the nicest looking flowers to use as garnishes so I make sure to put those in a separate pile.

After all your flowers are stem free place them in a pot along with the water and sugar, bring up to a simmer on medium-high heat, and let simmer, stirring occasionally until all the sugar is dissolved. Take the pot off the heat and leave to steep for at least an hour, then strain out the flowers and store in a clean airtight container.