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Let’s talk about lilacs! I had grand plans for a lilac cheesecake this year, but didn’t quite get around to it and now all our lilacs have faded. I did however come up with this wonderfully fun colour-changing lilac drink!

We start with carbonated water, a generous drizzle of lilac syrup (gently coloured purple with a single blueberry during its creation…this is important!). Then a touch of lemon juice is added for a bit of tartness and to get the magical colour-changing effect! When the acid of the lemon juice hits the blue colour from the blueberries, it changes to pink! My science brain had so much fun with this, and it was a delight to create!

This means your drink will start purple, and slowly change to quite a brilliant pink when you stir in the lemon juice. Seriously amazing!

I also added a few lilac blooms into my ice cubes for another added touch. This is also a great way to preserve the blooms for a little while longer…just be sure to store them in an airtight container away from anything smelly in your freezer.

Anyway, this recipe is pretty darn easy, but I thought it might provide some inspiration!

colour-changing lilac fizzy drink

recipe: Kelsey Siemens

yields: 1 serving (double, triple, quadruple as needed)

ingredients

1 1/2 cups carbonated water

1-2 tablespoons lilac syrup (must be coloured with 1-2 blueberries during the cooking process)

1 tablespoon lemon juice

optional: freeze lilac flowers into ice cubes for serving

to make

In a large glass, add the carbonated water (and ice cubes if using). Stir in lilac syrup to taste. Then add the lemon juice and watch the magic happen! Stir the lemon juice in for more even pink colour, or let it drift down slowly and watch the colour change slowly. Enjoy immediately!

LILAC SYRUP

ingredients

1 cup lilac sugar (regular granulated sugar is fine here, but I like the boost of flavour from lilac sugar!)

1 cup water

1 cup lilac flowers

1-3 blueberries - mashed - add more for a darker purple colour

to make the lilac syrup

In a medium saucepan, heat the water and sugar over high temperature and bring to a boil. Once the water is boiling, let it boil for 1-2 minutes to fully dissolve the sugar, and then remove from the heat. Let the mixture cool for 5-10 minutes, and then dd the lilac flowers, and give it a stir. Allow to cool to room temperature, and then transfer to the fridge to infuse for 6-8 hours. Do a taste test to see if it needs longer!

The next day, sterilize a glass jar (you can do this by baking in the oven at 200 degrees F for 5 minutes), let the jar cool before adding the cold syrup (so it doesn’t crack from the temperature difference)! Then use a funnel and strainer to add the chilled syrup to the jar. Store in the fridge until ready to use.

tips:

lilacs impart a very delicate, floral flavour, and it’s important that you don’t use any green stems - or it may taste bitter!
always ensure you are 100% certain of the variety whenever you are “foraging” - any common lilac will work: Syringa vulgaris (but stay away from Persian Lilac/Chinaberry bush - these are not true lilacs and are not edible).