Lilac Sugar
When Spring is at its peak, the Lilacs begin to bloom, and their lovely shades of purple and beautiful scent dominate the landscape. If you love floral flavors in drinks and baked goods, then I think you’ll really enjoy this easy Lilac Sugar! In this post, I will show you how to make this easy sugar that is infused with the lovely flavor and aroma of lilac, and give you tips on how to use it!
Why I Love This Recipe And Lilacs
One of my favorite scents in the whole world is lilac blossoms. I really wish that the blooms hung around longer than they do.
I love this recipe because it allows me to have this lovely scent around a little longer, but it also gives me the opportunity to do something a little unique. I like having fun in the kitchen and trying new things (and I hope you do as well). This recipe provides that chance, and I love working with florals any time I can. There are lilacs growing all over the place where I live, so I make this sugar every year!
Bonus: I can also do even more relaxing while drinking cups of lilac sugar sweetened tea, and reading a few chapters of that book I have been meaning to catch up on (I think I may have just outed myself a bit there, not doing as much reading lately as I would like).
If you have not used florals in cooking or baking but you’d like to start, definitely see my recipes for pickled strawberries or lilac syrup. They are both great uses of florals! I am all about working with fresh ingredients and cooking great food from scratch, and I love helping others on that journey. To learn more about me and the blog, the about page has all kinds of info about how I can help you!
Are Lilacs Edible?
They are! It is important to get your lilacs from a source that you trust. Since they will be consumed, it is crucial that you get lilacs that have not been treated or sprayed with chemicals or pesticides. Growing them yourself is best but if you don’t, talk to a friend, neighbor, nursery, or farmer who grows them and make sure their lilacs have not been sprayed with anything before cooking with them or eating them.
What Does Lilac Taste Like?
Lilac is much more subtle than a flavor like lavender. When using an ingredient like lavender in my blackberry lavender cheesecake for instance, you really have to watch it because you can go from zero to “hand soap flavored dish” in a flash. Lilac is much more forgiving, and I find the more the merrier to ensure the flavor comes through.
How To Make Lilac Sugar
Making sugar from lilacs is extremely easy, and very rewarding. The only time consuming part of making the sugar is trimming the blossoms off the stems. The rest is easy. Personally, I find the task a bit relaxing.
There are two different ways you can make the sugar, and I will briefly touch on them here, but for full notes and instructions please refer to the recipe card.
- You can mix the blossoms in with the sugar directly.
- The alternative is to use cheesecloth sachets for the blossoms.
Whichever method you go with, this simple recipe is really just infusing the sugar with the lilac flavor and aroma. I have some more tips and tricks in the recipe itself along with the instructions, so be sure to head on down and take a look.
What Can You Do With Lilac Sugar?
You can experiment by replacing regular granulated sugar with the lilac sugar in scones or pound cake as a place to start.
This is also lovely in a cup of tea, or given as a Mother’s Day gift!
If you enjoy making truffles, the lilac sugar would be great to roll your truffles in (especially if they are white chocolate). If you want to take your macerated berries to a whole new level, try using lilac sugar instead. They give a beautiful floral note to the fruit.
How Long Does Lilac Sugar Last?
I try to use lilac sugar within two weeks after making it. After that the flavor fades and it is no longer fresh. I recommend storing your lilac sugar in a jar with a tight fitting lid in your refrigerator.
Thank you for stopping by the blog! If you made this recipe, I’d love to hear from you. Ratings and comments are always welcome! If you have not signed up for my newsletter and you’d like all the latest updates, be sure to subscribe. Happy Cooking!
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Lilac Sugar
This easy lilac sugar makes a lovely gift, and can be used to sweeten tea along with many other uses. If you love lilacs, this is one way to make them last a little longer!
- Total Time: 168 hours 30 minutes
- Yield: 2 Cups 1x
Ingredients
- Lilac Blossoms (about 2 cups lightly packed)
- 2 cups of Granulated White Sugar
Instructions
- Remove the lilac blossoms from the stems.
- Cut cheesecloth into four inch squares (if using), and place a handful of lilac blossoms in the middle of each one.
- Bring the edges and corners of the square together and tie off with twine or string.
- Place a sachet in the bottom of the jar, and top with about 1/3 cup of sugar. Make another sachet and place in the jar, then more sugar.
- Keep layering sachets of blossoms and sugar together until your jar is full. You should be able to use around two cups of sugar.
- Place the jar in a cool dark place such as your pantry, and give the jar a good shake a few times a day for about 7 days.
- Once the sugar has soaked up the moisture from the lilacs, remove the sachets from the jar and discard. Use the sugar within two weeks, and store in the refrigerator in a tightly sealed jar when not in use.
Notes
The method using the sachets is great because once it is ready to use you don't have to fish the blossoms out of your sugar. Now they are safely contained in the cheesecloth bundles to be discarded when ready, leaving nothing behind but the sugar!
If you do not want to make sachets from cheesecloth, you are more than welcome to layer the blossoms right in the jar with the sugar and skip the cheesecloth baggies. The flowers become preserved because they dry as the sugar pulls the moisture out of the blossoms. If you want to keep the blossoms intact in the sugar, you can bake them right into your baked goods if you want! They can stay in the jar of sugar because they are edible, unless you don’t want them in the finished product.
This sugar makes a wonderful hostess gift for someone who is a flower lover. It is great in tea, and many other uses. Be sure to check out the suggestions in the blog post for how to use it!
Make sure the lilac blossoms you are using have not been treated or sprayed with pesticides.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Additional Time: 168 hours
- Cook Time: 0 hours
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1
- Calories: 48
- Sugar: 12
- Sodium: 0
- Fat: 0
- Saturated Fat: 0
- Unsaturated Fat: 0
- Trans Fat: 0
- Carbohydrates: 13
- Fiber: 0
- Protein: 0
- Cholesterol: 0
Thanks for sharing with I’ll be featuring you this week when the next To Grandma’s house we go link party starts!
Amy, I quite intrigued with this recipe and I’ve never used lilacs in this way before, but have experimented a bit with lavender. I look forward to trying it out.
Thank you for sharing your lilac sugar recipe at Create, Bake, Grow & Gather this week. I’m delighted to be featuring it at Friday’s party and pinning it too.
Hugs ~ Kerryanne
My lilacs are beginning to bloom. Thanks for sharing this recipe! SSPS#68