I found a few recipes recently that call for lilacs. Who knew lilacs were edible? I certainly didn’t. And what great timing to discover these culinary uses the same week mine bloomed!
To prepare lilacs for recipes, first you need to go pick a whole bunch of them. Get them from a trusted source, where you are sure they haven’t been sprayed with pesticides or other chemicals. Pick some extra to put in a vase in the house.
Rinse them really well (I dunk them in a bowl of water and swish them around) and then gently shake off excess water. Pick them apart a bit into tiny clumps, and put them in a bowl. Get another bowl for "discards" and a third bolw for the picked blossoms and buds. Here is my discard bowl in the "picked blossoms" bowl.
