Nothing says spring quite like a lilac bush. They bring such a beautiful burst of much needed colour after a dreary winter season, and one of the happiest smells there is. While the blooms don’t last more than a few days once cut, it is still so worth it to bring some into the house as much as possible. We grow both purple and white varieties, and I love them both!

One of the easiest ways to use lilacs in baking is by making lilac sugar or syrup! The tiny flowers of the common lilac are completely edible, and impart a lightly floral taste when infused in sugar and syrup. It’s so much fun to forage in your own backyard, and bake with such pretty blooms. I love to sprinkle lilac sugar over fruit, roll doughnuts into them, use it in tea, or to bake with. The flavour isn’t overly strong, so use wherever it won’t compete with other flavours too much!

lilac sugar

ingredients

1/2 cup lilac flowers - from the Common Lilac

1 cup granulated sugar

to make the lilac sugar

First pick your lilacs, and give them a good shake to remove any insects or dirt. You may lightly rinse them if you like, but make sure to let them dry out completely before adding to the sugar. Carefully pluck off each individual flower, and it’s important that the green stem does not come off with the flower. If this seems difficult to do, simply place the lilac stem into a jar of water and leave for one day. Sometimes if the lilacs aren’t completely open, they won’t let go of their stem! Try again the next morning and it should be easier.

Add the lilac flowers to a clean jar, and then pour the sugar over top. Store in a cool, dark place for one week, and shake the jar each day to mix up the sugar and flowers. After a week, open it up, and do a little taste test! The flowers will have gone brown, and the sugar may be a little bit clumpy at this point, that’s totally normal! If the sugar tastes strong enough, then it’s good to go. Otherwise you can leave it for a few more days, and you can even add a few more flowers if you’d like.

Once the sugar is ready, you may want to remove the dried lilac flowers by sifting them out with a strainer, but it is not necessary, since they are edible and impart a strong flavour too. I usually prefer to leave them in, and if the sugar is clumping, simply blend it in a food processor or high powered blender to blend the flowers in.

When making a big batch of sugar, I choose to sterilize my jar and sugar for longer storage. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment, and place a clean jar on top, and spread the sugar out beside it. Bake everything for 5-10 minutes, then remove from the oven and cool slightly before adding the sugar to the jar. The sugar will store for up to 1 year.

a few tips:

the baking process will also help remove moisture from the sugar that was added from the lilacs, but also may make it a bit clumpy. you can add a sugar saver to your container to help it soften up!
simply double, triple, or quadruple this recipe for larger batches!
please note: as with any “foraging” you do, never use any plant that you are not 100% certain you can identify correctly. I’m using flowers from the Common Lilac, not a Persian Lilac/Chinaberry bush.

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

optional: add 1 blueberry or blackberry for colouring if you wish your syrup to have a slightly purple colour! I didn’t for these photos, but have before to add more intensity

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. Add the lilac flowers, and give it a stir. Allow to cool to room temperature, and then move 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! Then use a funnel and strainer to add the chilled syrup to the jar. Store in the fridge until ready to use.

possible uses: add to sparkling water, lemonade, iced or hot tea, coffee, etc for a lovely spring drink!

lilacs impart a very delicate, floral flavour, but make sure you don’t use any green stems - or it will taste bitter!

happy lilac foraging!