This isn’t so much a recipe as it is a technique. You can use as many lilac flowers as you have available to you; measure the amount of flowers after you remove them from their stems and combine them with equal parts sugar, though it doesn’t have to be exact. Pour the sugar and flowers into a jar in alternating layers. The essential oils from the flowers will seep into the sugar, capturing their essence.
Most recipes for lilac sugar stop there, but it will leave you with a very wet sugar, which will quickly begin to ferment and take on a vegetal taste and funky aroma. You need to remove the excess moisture that the flowers leave in the sugar. An easy way to do this is to dry it on the lowest setting in your oven, but you can also use a dehydrator if you have one. Then, pulse the dry sugar in a food processor to remove any clumps.
Once the lilac sugar is nice and dry, you can store it for at least a year in a cool dark cupboard.
Use in recipes in place of regular white sugar to give a subtle lilac flavor to your desserts!
Lilac Sugar
Ingredients
- 1 part fresh lilac flowers
- 1 part granulated sugar
Instructions
- Remove lilac flowers from their stems. Give the flowers a gentle wash and leave them on a towel-lined sheet pan to dry.
- Layer flowers and sugar in alternate layers in a large clean glass jar, starting and ending with sugar. Put a lid on the jar and give it a good shake.
- Place the lilac sugar in a dark cupboard for a day or two, shaking at least once a day.
- Preheat oven to its lowest setting (mine is 170° F).
- Pour lilac sugar onto a sheet pan lined with parchment paper and spread thin. Place in the oven until dry and no moisture remains, stirring occasionally, about 20-35 minutes. Sugar will be hard and crunchy.
- Allow to cool completely. Place dried sugar into a food processor and pulse a few times, until clumps are broken up and sugar is fairly uniform.
Did you try this recipe?
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