Infusing Herbs and Flowers: Acacia Flower Syrup

Edible flowers can have an allure that extends beyond their perfume. If only I could capture the pleasure somehow to enjoy beyond the short window in which they bloom. Acacia is out in the Lyonnais region at the moment, and we're seeing their delicate cascading blooms in bundles on market tables.

I have been doing a series of workshops on herbs in French cooking, and one of the things we do is a simple herb infused syrup to use in your house kir. A kir is Champagne or white wine with a bit of a flavored syrup or a liqueur like crème de cassis, a typical apéritif served in many French homes. Making your own herb infused syrup can lift a very common French before-dinner drink to something memorable for your guests. What they don't know is that it takes no more than five minutes of hands on work to create your own quick syrups in advance. What they will remember is that you turned an old classic standby into something creative and unusual.

The main idea about infusing herbs is to know what part of the plant contains the oils that give them their flavor, and at what point in the plant's development these oils are most concentrated in the plant. I love to use verbena leaves in this type of syrup infusion, and we do this before it blooms. But yesterday at the market the little baskets of acacia flowers' beautiful aroma drew me in even before I saw them. It's the blooms of this plant that harbor the flavor and aroma. I'd bought a bundle of them for a euro before even thinking about what to do with them.

Just in the way things meld together from my various projects, I knew what I wanted to do with these flowers. I coaxed the beautiful perfume out into a syrup, which I served simply over fromage blanc en faiselle after dinner last night. Magic. When my guests had been fed breakfast and sent to the Musée des Beaux Arts this morning, out came the syrup again for me to enjoy with breakfast. Here is the recipe.

Acacia Flower Syrup

1 cup water
1 cup plain table sugar
6 stems of faux acacia flowers

Bring the sugar and water to a full rolling boil, and let it boil, without stirring, for 5 minutes. While the sugar boils, inspect the flowers to insure they are clean and free of any wind blown debris or critters. Remove the flowers from the stems by simply plucking them off with your fingers. Put the flowers into the hot sugar syrup. Stir lightly to saturate the flowers. Let them infuse in the syrup until it cools to room temperature. Strain and transfer the syrup to a jar or bottle, and chill. It will keep several weeks. Serve over fromage blanc en faiselle or yogurt, or make a kir with a couple of tablespoons of this syrup in a flute of Champagne or white wine. Float a flower or two in the glass, or put it on the dessert. You can eat the flowers.

Chameleon-like Activity Spotted in Verbena

Verbena sighting at St. Antoine

When my herb man had a bouquet of verbena out on display, I snagged it immediately. This year in the restaurants of France they have verveine infused into everything from panna cotta to pairings with lobster, or in asparagus terrines. Verbena is in the mix in poached peaches and ice cream, infused in savory sauce to top spider crabs and simmered with artichokes, even matched with piquillo peppers! The possibilities are endless for this herb. Voilà, donc, a verveine infused cheesecake with a fruit or berry coulis. I picked up some blackberries (just in case) from a Condrieu producer and and also some apricots from another, to do two sauces, choosing at the last minute which is best for the cake.

Verbena, or verveine

The idea is to make a sugar syrup, add the leaves off heat while it's hot hot hot, and let it soak off heat until it cools down again. It doesn't take more than a couple of minutes of active hands-on activity. Herb syrups keep a long time. You can use this syrup to spruce up or make your own soda or lemonade, and of course serve sublime cocktails. It's fabulous on yogurt. Or like me, you can just sip it by the spoonful. I gleaned the proportions for this recipe from a 1960 edition of Raymond Olivier's cooking magazine, Chez Vous.

in short order you can have verbena infused syrup

Fresh Verbena Syrup

for each 2 sprigs of verbena you use, measure:
200 grams or 3/4 cup sugar
20 cl or 3/4 cup water

Following this proportion, if you want a quart, use 10 sprigs.

Rinse off your verbena and pull the leaves off the sprigs. You will only use the leaves. Verbana must have appeared at a special moment in my childhood because every time I handle the fresh herb, strong diffuse emotions are triggered. Baby memories. I wonder if we had it in our garden when I was a baby. Anyway, bring the water and sugar to a full rolling boil, and remove it from heat. Add the leaves to the hot syrup, ensure that they are fully submerged (they will sink easily), and let the verbena infuse until the syrup cools to room temperature. If you are not using the syrup immediately, strain into a bottle or jar, seal it, and keep it in the fridge. It lasts for several months.

Gift idea

To make the verbena flavored cheesecake, add 5 Tbsp. of the syrup to your cheesecake batter, recipe here. You may add 5 minutes or so to the cooking time. Remember that when cheesecake comes out of the oven, it is still a little bit jiggly. Then it settles down and solidifies to the wonderful thick creamy sliceable wedge of heaven we know to be New York Style cheesecake. If you are in the States and don't have fresh white farmer's cheese, use Philadelphia or a similar kind. You won't be disappointed. Here I am, adding all kinds of crazy flavorings to cheese cake. Viva la révolution!