You’ve probably seen these lovely flowers popping up in gardens, parks and hedges. Flowering currants or ribes, ssmell like blackcurrant but did you know that they taste like blackcurrant too?
They can be found in various shades of pink and white and though they can taste a little bitter if you just eat them straight from the bush, they taste delicious made into a beautiful pink syrup.
You will need
3 packed cup of flowering currant blossoms – pink ones give the best colour but you can use any
2 lb /900g granulated sugar
2 pint / 1100ml of water
6 tablespoons lemon juice
*These amounts will make 3-4 bottles
Method
- First remove as much green stem from the flowers as possible
- Gently rinse your flowers
- In a large pan combine the sugar and water
- Gently heat until all the sugar has dissolved
- Bring to a boil and hold there for one minute
- Remove from the heat
- Add the flowers to the sugar syrup and cover
- Let the mixture steep for at least 12 hours
- Strain through a muslin cloth
- Your syrup will be pink but when you add the lemon juice, it will become the most beautiful shade of pink!
- Bottle and store in the fridge for up to a month or freeze in ice cube trays
This syrup tastes absolutely delicious diluted with lemonade or sparkling water. Or for a grown-up drink, why not add it to prosecco or gin!
Love Rachel ❤️
