Honeysuckle and Meadowsweet Spritzer

Honeysuckle and Meadowsweet Spritzer is a fresh and floral summer drink. Make this sweet cordial and top with sparkling water, soda or sparkling wine for a delicious and refreshing drink with a flavour similar to elderflower.

Honeysuckle and Meadowsweet Spritzer

I love summer, don’t you?  I love the warm days and lighter evenings, but I also love the fresh and delicious food and drinks that go along with those lazy summer days. 

Hedgerow Wildflowers

Living on a farm means that I have access to many wildflowers in our hedgerows. And I’m always looking for ways to include this free foraged produce into my recipes.  

Honeysuckle Flower

What is Honeysuckle?

Honeysuckle (Lonicera periclymenum) or Woodbine is a twining scented woodland plant, and insects and bees love its trumpet-like flowers.  It has a sweet, heady scent particularly on warm summer evenings.

Can you eat Honeysuckle?

Honeysuckle flowers are edible but DO NOT eat the berries because they are poisonous.

How do you harvest Honeysuckle flowers?

The honeysuckle flowers are quite delicate. The best way to harvest them is with a small pair of scissors, cut off the flowers and put them in a plastic bag which contains a piece of damp kitchen paper.

Meadowsweet WIldflower

What is Meadowsweet?

Meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria) is a perennial herb that grows in wet habitats like damp meadows and river banks. Meadowsweet is part of the rose family, it’s blooms are fragrant sprays of tiny creamy-white flowers on long stems.

Can you eat Meadowsweet?

The flowers and leaves of meadowsweet are both edible. However the leaves can be bitter.

Bowl of wild flowers

How do you harvest Meadowsweet flowers?

Gather the meadowsweet blossoms on a dry and sunny day. I use scissors and a large bowl or bag, try not to crush the flowers.

Don’t use damp kitchen paper in your container when collecting meadowsweet, you want the blossoms to remain dry.

Honeysuckle Hedge

When can you harvest Honeysuckle & Meadowsweet?

Meadowsweet and Honeysuckle are two of my favourite wildflowers. They are both at their peak between June and September. And both have a beautiful scent as well as pretty flowers.  

I make a Honeysuckle Simple Syrup however this is the first time I am making a recipe using Meadowsweet.

Where can you forage for Honeysuckle & Meadowsweet?

Honeysuckle

  • Woodlands
  • Hedgerows
  • Parks
  • Gardens

Meadowsweet

  • Meadows
  • Ditches
  • River Banks
  • Hedgerows
Gate with Private sign on it

Where NOT to forage

  • Private land without permission
  • Near a road, because of the toxic fumes which absorbed by the plants.

What does Honeysuckle and Meadowsweet Spritzer taste like?

The flavour is similar, light and floral but it definitely has a recognisable flavour all of its own.  

There are lots of recipes for elderflower drinks, but not so many for other foraged wildflowers. Use the basic recipe with many other flowers, like dandelion, rose or lavender.  

champagne prosecco bottle

Add a bit of fizz!

All of these syrups make a great spritzer, and you can choose whether you add sparkling water, soda or a sparkling wine like prosecco or cava.

 I really recommend you try this Honeysuckle and Meadowsweet Spritzer, so get out into the countryside and see what you can forage. 

More Foraged Homemade Drinks

Blackberry and Vanilla Cordial

Foraged or cultivated blackberries are ideal for making this fruity Blackberry and Vanilla Cordial.  It has a rich blackberry flavour is easy to make and much less expensive than the high-end fruit cordials.

Sloe Cordial with bottle, glasses and leaves

Sloe Cordial is a non-alcoholic cordial that is easy to make with foraged sloe berries. It is not too sweet and makes a great gift for Christmas or at any time of year. 

Hedgerow Vodka with blackberries and rosehips

Hedgerow Vodka is a delicious liqueur made from the berries you can gather in the hedgerows of Britain. It is really easy to make and a bottle of Hedgerow Vodka makes a great gift for Christmas and the Holidays.

More Summer Drinks

Recipe for Honeysuckle & Meadowsweet Spritzer Drink
Honeysuckle and Meadowsweet Spritzer

Honeysuckle and Meadowsweet Spritzer

Farmersgirl Kitchen
A delicious floral simple syrup made with summer hedgerow foraged honeysuckle and meadowsweet flowers.
No ratings yet
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Course Drinks
Cuisine British
Servings 10
Calories 116 kcal

Ingredients

  • 300 grams (1.5 cups) of sugar
  • 200 millilitres (7 fl oz) of water
  • 200 grams (6 cups) of mixed Honeysuckle and Meadowsweet flowers
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • Sparkling water or sparkling wine

Instructions
 

  • Dissolve sugar in water over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until it reaches a simmer.
  • Remove as much of the stems as possible and place the flowers in a glass or ceramic bowl.
  • Pour hot syrup over top and let stand for at least 30 minutes.
  • Add the juice of a lemon.
  • Strain the mixture and discard the flowers.
  • Pour into bottles and chill in the fridge, keep in the fridge for up to one month.

To make the spritzer

  • Pour about 2 tbsp into a glass and top up with sparkling water or sparkling wine to taste.

Notes

Nutrition Information based on mixing the syrup with sparking water.
Honeysuckle and Meadowsweet syrup can also be used to macerate soft fruits such as strawberries and peaches and adds a lovely flavour or it can be poured over ice cream.
Adapted from Cooking with Flowers by Miche Bacher

Nutrition

Calories: 116kcalCarbohydrates: 30gSodium: 1mgSugar: 30g
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22 Comments

    1. Thanks, it always seems such a shame not to use these beautiful, scented flowers growing along the roadside especially when the council come along and cut them all down eventually. I hope you can find some meadowsweet somewhere, but if not you could just make the honeysuckle on its own or with rose petals.

    1. Oh that’s great. I hope you try making some of the syrup or maybe you will be inspired to make something else!

  1. What a fab recipe. I should probably cut down on the amount of alcohol I drink too but I love this can be made soft or hard depending on what you use to add some fizz!!! Also is it me or does Meadowseet look a lot like elderflower?!

    1. Thank you, it is nice to know that you can adapt the Spritzer to suit everyone. I haven’t tried it with alcohol yet, but I think it would go really well with a nice dry fizz!

  2. This sounds amazing! I used to suck the nectar out of honeysuckle as a child in Greece which now strikes me as rather odd behaviour… but I can see it working beautifully in a drink.

  3. Ooh this is so exciting Janice. I really want to try making meadowsweet and honeysuckle syrups now. I’ve tried a few in the past, with lilac being my least favourite, but I bet these are good. I like the slight almond flavour that meadowsweet has.

    1. I thought this would be right up your street, or should that be lane? We are both country girls with a penchant for foraging and I know youve made rose syrup, so do try the Meadowsweet, it’s everywhere just now but will soon be gone for another year.

        1. you have been busy, so give yourself a break, it’s only taken me 30 years to make this syup 😉

    1. I’m no expert but I was brought up in the countryside and my Mum would name all the plants so I suppose I just picked it up. You could try doing honeysuckle as I’m sure you know what that is like.

  4. I hadn’t no idea you could make a drink from honeysuckle! Love their scent. The Coldpress lower calorie juices look delicious too, I would love to try the blood orange mandarin one.

    1. Glad you found out something new, Lucy. Yes, the coldpress juices are really refreshing and not too sweet.

  5. Looks FABULOUS! I have made honeysuckle syrup in the past, along with my rhubarb & rose syrup, rose and strawberry syrup and also my elderflower syrup, but I have never thought to add meadow sweet which is a great idea Janice! I may try that next time I make some syrup! Karen

    1. Well, imagine that! I thought you’d have tried meadowsweet along with all your other edible flowers, glad to be able to introduce something new to you too.

    1. Oh I hope you can find some, we have masses of it this year, if not then just make the honeysuckle syrup on its own.

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