How To Make Lilac Sugar
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Making your own lilac sugar is a simple and elegant way to capture the flavor and scent of fresh lilacs during the height of the season. Use it to sweeten cakes and muffins, lemonade, or tea, or label your lilac-infused sugar in a pretty little jar for a great gift.
Lilac season is brief. If you’re not intentional, you’ll miss it. I loved the floral aroma and flavors in my recent lilac simple syrup so much that I was determined to use these fresh flowers to the fullest.
Lilac sugar is a simple recipe where you alternate layers of sugar and flowers, then let them infuse.
When it’s ready, you’ll have cups of lilac sugar on hand to sweeten your bakes or hot drinks. Lilac recipes are elegant and luxurious, and the perfect way to incorporate the loveliness of spring.
Note: While the common lilac has edible purple flowers, the Persian lilac is commonplace in landscaping and toxic if ingested. Determine the species before consuming the plant.
How to Use Lilac Sugar
- Add the flavor of spring to sweet treats like sourdough banana bread, blueberry scones, or this easy blackberry cobbler.
- You can sweeten homemade strawberry chia jam or other fruit preserves.
- Add a couple of teaspoons to this rosemary hot tea, your morning coffee with cream, to sweeten a green tea latte.
- It makes a unique and thoughtful gift! Fill a cute little jar, wrap it with ribbon or twine, and add a sprig of fresh lilac flowers.
- Make an exfoliating sugar scrub with a lilac scent.
Recipe Highlights
Seasonal and cheerful – Our lilac bush blooms for such a short time, it’s so much fun to capture the sunny days of spring in a jar full of sugar.
Capture the sweet scent of lilac – Lilacs have a beautiful floral note that is lovely when infused with regular sugar, helping us to enjoy it long after the season ends.
Homemade and simple – A simple process of layering sugar and flowers, the assembly is simple and you just wait for the flavor and aroma to develop.
Ingredients
Fresh lilac blossoms – Stems and leaves removed and the blossoms rinsed and air-dried.
Granulated white sugar – I like to use organic cane sugar.
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A list of the remaining ingredients can be found in the recipe card.
How to Make Lilac Sugar
Step 1: Gather the lilac blossoms, choosing those that look healthiest. Remove all green stems or leaves. Give the flowers a good shake or rinse them in cool water to remove any bugs or debris. Let air dry completely.
Step 2: Add a layer of sugar to the bottom of a clean jar, followed by a layer of dried lilacs. Repeat these layers until the jar is full, with sugar as the last layer. Cover with an airtight lid. Store the jar in a cool, dark place for up to seven days, shaking the contents to prevent clumping.
Step 4: After several days of infusing, pour the sugar onto a plate and let it dry out. Once dry, you can choose to remove the individual blossoms or leave them in the sugar. Store in a dark, cool place.
Tips
- Use the freshest blossoms you can find for the most flavor, and remove all of the green parts as they can be bitter.
- After rinsing the flowers, let them air-dry for several hours until completely dry. If they are not completely dry, they could make the sugar clump and possibly mold.
- Make sure to use the common lilac flower as there are certain varieties that are not edible.
FAQs
Keep homemade lilac sugar in an airtight container, like a glass jar with a tight-fitting lid, in a cool, dark, dry place. It should keep for several months.
You can use it in baking, to sweeten your tea or coffee, to make lemonade, or as an exfoliating sugar scrub for your skin.
The sugar has a mild floral flavor that compliments other flavors well without being too overpowering.
While often confused for their similar appearance, lilacs typically have a stronger fragrance and lavender is more subtle. Lilacs are shrubs, while lavender is a perennial herb.
Yes, the common lilac species, Syringa vulgaris, has edible flowers. However, be sure they have not been sprayed with pesticides.
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Ingredients
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup lilac flowers de-stemmed, no greens
Instructions
- Gather the lilac blossoms, choosing those that look healthiest. Remove all green stems or leaves. Give the flowers a good shake or rinse them in cool water to remove any bugs or debris. Let air dry completely.
- Add a layer of sugar to the bottom of a clean jar, followed by a layer of dried lilacs. Repeat these layers until the jar is full, with sugar as the last layer. Cover with an airtight lid.
- Store the jar in a cool, dark place for up to seven days, shaking the contents to prevent clumping.
- After several days of infusing, pour the sugar onto a plate and let it dry out. Once dry, you can choose to remove the lilacs or leave them in the sugar. Store in a dark, cool place.
Notes
- Use the freshest blossoms you can find for the most flavor, and remove all of the green parts as they can be bitter.
- After rinsing the flowers, let them air-dry for several hours until completely dry.
- Make sure to use the common lilac flower as this type is edible.