Did you know that lovely, aromatic peony flowers are also edible? You can use them in a variety of ways, but infused honey is my favorite. It's so versatile and delightful!
Today is a perfect May day. I woke up and made coffee, opened the front door, and walked onto the front porch only to be met by a glorious aroma of blooming flowers carried up to me by a gentle breeze. Mmmmm….the wild roses are white, snowy bushes, the “fancy” roses are garnet gems on their thorny wands, and even the humble wild blackberries are resplendent.
My love and my baby joined me on the porch and we began our morning amble around the yard to let the chickens out to run, to water the plants, and to walk the property to see how things are doing. After adoring all of the new growth on our trees and garden boxes, we came across the peony bush which has finally decided to pop open its buds! I’ve been eyeballing them for weeks, watching the ants munch open their hard casing, wondering why they were taking so long this year.
I took a moment to tell the peony how beautiful it was and praised the plant for its efforts and with its permission, trimmed off this bloom. The aroma followed me through the yard as I gathered a few roses in full bloom and returned to the house feeling like Persephone herself.
Rose and Peony Flower Infused Honey
This recipe is easily modifiable, but my peony flower and three roses filled up a single 8-ounce jelly jar. Serve it drizzled over pound cake, ice cream, or stirred into white or jasmine tea for a magical treat. There’s no wrong way to enjoy this floral treat!
Ingredients
- Peony flower, freshly picked
- Roses, freshly picked
- Honey, preferably local and raw
Instructions
Gently shake the flowers to make sure there are no bugs hiding in the petals.
Pull the petals from the green parts of the flower and add them to the jar.
Pour the honey over the petals and use a chopstick to stir it, making sure there are no air pockets. Add as much honey as you need to cover the petals.
Put a lid on the jar and set it in a sunny windowsill or similarly warm place. Turn it over once a day so that the honey covers the petals which will float to the top. This keeps the chance of mold down.
After no more than weeks, strain the honey into a new jar and use the honey-covered petals to make a cordial, a tea, or anything else you can imagine…or just toss them out.
Label the jar and store the honey in the fridge.
Notes
See more about infused honey here.
You must store this in the fridge because the moisture in the fresh flowers is pulled out by the honey, and that means that it’s a prime place for fermentation or mold or other life to start up!
Use it within a few months or make it last longer by turning it into a liqueur by adding vodka, whisky, or other nummy booze.
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Posted In Sweet Stuff Recipes
Tagged: eat your weeds, edible flowers, edible landscaping, honey, infused honey, infusion, peony, persephone, raw honey, rose
Amber Shehan
Hi! I'm Amber Pixie, and this is my site. Enjoy the recipes, information, posts, and please feel free to message me if you have questions!
