Honeysuckle Simple Syrup

The sweet nectar from the gorgeous honeysuckle flowers provide a lovely unique flavour in this delicious homemade honeysuckle simple syrup. This syrup is a lovely, floral sweetener that can be used in cocktails, lemonade and iced teas.

Honeysuckle Flowers

For this simple syrup recipe, you will need ripe honeysuckle blossoms. They are ripe, when they are no longer white. They should be yellow, and not dark and wilty.

Using Honeysuckle Syrup

As this is a simple syrup, it is quite thin and runny. This helps them dissolve quickly in drinks.

Some wonderful ways to use this syrup are:

• Cocktails
• Iced Tea
• Lemonade
• Drizzle on pancakes
• Serve with ice cream
• Pour over waffles

Japanese Honeysuckles

If you are foraging for honeysuckles, you will need to find the Japanese Honeysuckle (Lonicera Japonica), as its flowers contain a lovely, sweet and edible nectar. The flowers are the only edible part of the plant.

The flowers on this vine start out white, then turn yellow with age. This is when you want to harvest them. If you haven’t harvested honeysuckles before, use a guide book to help you identify the honeysuckle vine and flowers. 

Avoid harvesting from plants in areas where there are a lot of pollutants, like plants beside a road. Also, make sure you have permission before gathering flowers that are not on your property. The flowers can be easily trimmed off the vine with a pair of secateurs.

Honeysuckle Simple Syrup

To make 1 ½ cups of honeysuckle simple syrup, you will need:

• 1 Cup Water
• 1 Cup Ripe Honeysuckle Flowers
• ¾ Cup White Sugar

After you have picked the honeysuckle flowers, you will need to clean them before using them. A simple way to do this is to submerge the flowers into a bowl of water, gently swishing them around to get the bugs and dirt off. Strain the flowers and remove any green bulb if any are still attached.

Pour the water into a microwaveable jug and heat for 2 minutes. You could also heat the water in a saucepan over medium heat.

Add the rinsed flowers to the hot water. Cover and set aside to steep for at least 2 hours. If you are planning to leave the flowers steep for longer than 2 hours, place the jug in the fridge after it has cooled to room temperature.

Using a sieve lined with a coffee filter, strain the flowers from the water. 

After the mixture is very well strained, add the sugar and mix until fully dissolved.

Pour into a glass jar and add the lid.

Store in the fridge for up to a month and use as you would regular simple syrup.

This recipe can easily be double and can be stored in the freezer.

More Simple Syrups

• Lychee Syrup
• Lime syrup 
• Lemon Syrup
• Orange syrup
• Strawberry syrup 
• Blueberry syrup
• Mulberry syrup
• Rosella syrup
• Elderberry syrup