Honeysuckle and Meadowsweet Spritzer is a fresh and floral summer drink. Make this sweet cordial and top with sparkling water, soda or sparkling wine for a delicious and refreshing drink with a flavour similar to elderflower.
I love summer, don’t you? I love the warm days and lighter evenings, but I also love the fresh and delicious food and drinks that go along with those lazy summer days.
Hedgerow Wildflowers
Living on a farm means that I have access to many wildflowers in our hedgerows. And I’m always looking for ways to include this free foraged produce into my recipes.
What is Honeysuckle?
Honeysuckle (Lonicera periclymenum) or Woodbine is a twining scented woodland plant, and insects and bees love its trumpet-like flowers. It has a sweet, heady scent particularly on warm summer evenings.
Can you eat Honeysuckle?
Honeysuckle flowers are edible but DO NOT eat the berries because they are poisonous.
How do you harvest Honeysuckle flowers?
The honeysuckle flowers are quite delicate. The best way to harvest them is with a small pair of scissors, cut off the flowers and put them in a plastic bag which contains a piece of damp kitchen paper.
What is Meadowsweet?
Meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria) is a perennial herb that grows in wet habitats like damp meadows and river banks. Meadowsweet is part of the rose family, it’s blooms are fragrant sprays of tiny creamy-white flowers on long stems.
Can you eat Meadowsweet?
The flowers and leaves of meadowsweet are both edible. However the leaves can be bitter.
How do you harvest Meadowsweet flowers?
Gather the meadowsweet blossoms on a dry and sunny day. I use scissors and a large bowl or bag, try not to crush the flowers.
Don’t use damp kitchen paper in your container when collecting meadowsweet, you want the blossoms to remain dry.
When can you harvest Honeysuckle & Meadowsweet?
Meadowsweet and Honeysuckle are two of my favourite wildflowers. They are both at their peak between June and September. And both have a beautiful scent as well as pretty flowers.
I make a Honeysuckle Simple Syrup however this is the first time I am making a recipe using Meadowsweet.
Where can you forage for Honeysuckle & Meadowsweet?
Honeysuckle
- Woodlands
- Hedgerows
- Parks
- Gardens
Meadowsweet
- Meadows
- Ditches
- River Banks
- Hedgerows
Where NOT to forage
- Private land without permission
- Near a road, because of the toxic fumes which absorbed by the plants.
What does Honeysuckle and Meadowsweet Spritzer taste like?
The flavour is similar, light and floral but it definitely has a recognisable flavour all of its own.
There are lots of recipes for elderflower drinks, but not so many for other foraged wildflowers. Use the basic recipe with many other flowers, like dandelion, rose or lavender.
Add a bit of fizz!
All of these syrups make a great spritzer, and you can choose whether you add sparkling water, soda or a sparkling wine like prosecco or cava.
I really recommend you try this Honeysuckle and Meadowsweet Spritzer, so get out into the countryside and see what you can forage.
More Foraged Homemade Drinks
Foraged or cultivated blackberries are ideal for making this fruity Blackberry and Vanilla Cordial. It has a rich blackberry flavour is easy to make and much less expensive than the high-end fruit cordials.
Sloe Cordial is a non-alcoholic cordial that is easy to make with foraged sloe berries. It is not too sweet and makes a great gift for Christmas or at any time of year.
Hedgerow Vodka is a delicious liqueur made from the berries you can gather in the hedgerows of Britain. It is really easy to make and a bottle of Hedgerow Vodka makes a great gift for Christmas and the Holidays.
More Summer Drinks
- Old Fashioned Lemonade– Fab Food 4 All
- Easy Tropical Sangria – Recipes from a Pantry
- Summer Blush, a Gin and Prosecco Cocktail – Supper in the Suburbs
- Strawberry Rose Mint Fizz – Tin & Thyme
Honeysuckle and Meadowsweet Spritzer
Ingredients
- 300 grams (1.5 cups) of sugar
- 200 millilitres (7 fl oz) of water
- 200 grams (6 cups) of mixed Honeysuckle and Meadowsweet flowers
- Juice of 1 lemon
- Sparkling water or sparkling wine
Instructions
- Dissolve sugar in water over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until it reaches a simmer.
- Remove as much of the stems as possible and place the flowers in a glass or ceramic bowl.
- Pour hot syrup over top and let stand for at least 30 minutes.
- Add the juice of a lemon.
- Strain the mixture and discard the flowers.
- Pour into bottles and chill in the fridge, keep in the fridge for up to one month.
To make the spritzer
- Pour about 2 tbsp into a glass and top up with sparkling water or sparkling wine to taste.
Camilla Hawkins says
I love the sound of this drink, I don’t know anything about Meadow Sweet but Honeysuckle is a favourite of mine:-)
Janice Pattie says
Thanks, it always seems such a shame not to use these beautiful, scented flowers growing along the roadside especially when the council come along and cut them all down eventually. I hope you can find some meadowsweet somewhere, but if not you could just make the honeysuckle on its own or with rose petals.
Bintu | Recipes From A Pantry says
I have accesss to these flowers too but have never thougth to use them this way. Brilliant Idea, and I love Adagio Teas too.
Janice Pattie says
Oh that’s great. I hope you try making some of the syrup or maybe you will be inspired to make something else!
Emma @ Supper in the Suburbs says
What a fab recipe. I should probably cut down on the amount of alcohol I drink too but I love this can be made soft or hard depending on what you use to add some fizz!!! Also is it me or does Meadowseet look a lot like elderflower?!
Janice Pattie says
Thank you, it is nice to know that you can adapt the Spritzer to suit everyone. I haven’t tried it with alcohol yet, but I think it would go really well with a nice dry fizz!
Lucy Parissi says
This sounds amazing! I used to suck the nectar out of honeysuckle as a child in Greece which now strikes me as rather odd behaviour… but I can see it working beautifully in a drink.
Janice Pattie says
That makes you sound like a butterfly or hummingbird,Lucy. How delightful!
Claire @foodiequine says
This sounds wonderful Janice! I’ve been drinking rather a lot of Hugo Spritz on holiday and bet this would work really well in one instead of the usual elderflower syrup.
Janice Pattie says
It definitely would work, Claire!
Choclette says
Ooh this is so exciting Janice. I really want to try making meadowsweet and honeysuckle syrups now. I’ve tried a few in the past, with lilac being my least favourite, but I bet these are good. I like the slight almond flavour that meadowsweet has.
Janice Pattie says
I thought this would be right up your street, or should that be lane? We are both country girls with a penchant for foraging and I know youve made rose syrup, so do try the Meadowsweet, it’s everywhere just now but will soon be gone for another year.
Choclette says
Gah, been too busy for foraging trips recently, so this might have to wait until next year.
Janice Pattie says
you have been busy, so give yourself a break, it’s only taken me 30 years to make this syup 😉
Michelle @ Greedy Gourmet says
I envy your botanical knowledge, Janice. If I attempted stuff like this I would surely poison myself. Would love to try the honeysuckle flavour!
Janice Pattie says
I’m no expert but I was brought up in the countryside and my Mum would name all the plants so I suppose I just picked it up. You could try doing honeysuckle as I’m sure you know what that is like.
Lucy says
I hadn’t no idea you could make a drink from honeysuckle! Love their scent. The Coldpress lower calorie juices look delicious too, I would love to try the blood orange mandarin one.
Janice Pattie says
Glad you found out something new, Lucy. Yes, the coldpress juices are really refreshing and not too sweet.
Karen says
Looks FABULOUS! I have made honeysuckle syrup in the past, along with my rhubarb & rose syrup, rose and strawberry syrup and also my elderflower syrup, but I have never thought to add meadow sweet which is a great idea Janice! I may try that next time I make some syrup! Karen
Janice Pattie says
Well, imagine that! I thought you’d have tried meadowsweet along with all your other edible flowers, glad to be able to introduce something new to you too.
Glamorous Glutton says
How delicious and refreshing this sounds. Now I know what meadowsweet is, I’m going on a hunt for it as we have honeysuckle in the garden. GG
Janice Pattie says
Oh I hope you can find some, we have masses of it this year, if not then just make the honeysuckle syrup on its own.