I’ve seen lavender syrup and lilac sugar trend so here’s a recipe using one of my favorite flowers/weeds, the dandelion. They grow easily, remind me of childhood innocence and hope, greens can be used in salad, and can even flavor honey with them. Recipe for vegan “dandelion honey” aka dandelion syrup. Tastes great in teas.

Dandelion Syrup

Ingredients:

Dandelion flowers (about 60)

1-1/2 cup water

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar (or 1/4 cup honey)

1/2 lemon, juice and zest

Instructions:

Harvest dandelions! Note: You can harvest in advance of making this syrup. Put blooms in an air-tight freezer bag in the freezer until you’re ready to get started.

Snip off blossoms from the green base into a container. Then rinse the flowers and pat dry. (You can skip this step to retain more of the pollen which is good for the immune system. If you are concerned about bugs though, inspect closely or they will also be strained out later.)

Add flower heads and water to a pot. Bring to a boil, and let it boil for 30 seconds to a minute.

Then remove the pan from the heat and steep over night (or at least 8 hours).

The next morning, strain the liquid into another pot or bowl. You can strain over a cheesecloth or a fine mesh strainer, squeezing out as much water as you can.

Return the strained liquid to the pot and discard the flowers. Add the sugar, lemon zest, and juice to the pot and simmer for one hour.

Let the syrup cool. Note: The syrup won’t thicken until it has cooled. Once it has cooled, taste it with a spoon. Adjust to taste with sugar and lemon juice.

That’s it!

Transfer to a sterile class jar or container and leave to cool completely. It can keep in the fridge for up to a month.