what do you do with meadowsweet?

[fenris]

i know you can make a tea with it and stick it in mead, but do you have any favourite uses for it? there is so much about at the moment and it smells so nice i want to do something with it.

[battybird]

Would love to know too...hopefully someone will be along soon with ideas!

[Hedgehogpie]

It can be made into a wine* and at the moment I'm trying out an experiment with meadowsweet flowers used instead of elderflower to see if it will produce the same 'fizz' (Even without any natural fizzines it's tasted good so far, so I'm hopeful). So far it has almondy, floral overtones IMHO, & is quite pleasant chilled.

These recipes are from The Countryside Cookbook, by Gail Duff:

Meadowsweet Aperitif
1 bottle of claret
3 flower heas of meadowsweet
1 meadowsweet leaft bruised

Pour the wine into a jug. Put the flower heads and leaves into and leave for 2 hours. Strain the wine into a decanter and serve it at room temperature.

Meadowsweet Tea

A tea made from fresh or dried flowers is fragrant and soothing. One made with only the leaves is more refreshing. You can also mix flowers and leaves.

To make the tea infuse 1 fresh flower head or four shredded fresh leaves in 225 ml (8 fl oz) boiling water for 10 minutes. If using dried meadowsweet use 5ml (1 teaspoon) crumbled flowers or leaves or a mixture.

Meadowsweet Beer

This is a light refreshing beer

125g/4 oz Meadowsweet leaves
450g/1lb malt extract
225g/8 oz light brown demerara sugar
4.6 litres (1 gallon) water
15g (1/2 oz) dried yeast
2.5ml/ 1/2 teaspoon brown sugar per 575ml (1 pint) bottle

Boil the meadowsweet leaves in n1.725 litres /3 pints water for 15 minutes. Dissolve the malt and sugar inn a further 1.725 litres (3 pints) water in a large container. Strain the meadowsweet liquid onto the malt and sugar reserving the meadowsweet.

Boil the meadowsweet for a further 10 minutes in 1.15 litres (2 pints) water. Strain the liquid onto the malt and sugar solution this time discarding the meadowsweet.

Cool the liquid to lukewarm and sprinkle the yeast on top. Leave the beer, covered until it begins to ferment. Then put into a warm place for three days or until fermentation stops.

Rack off the beer and bottle it adding 2.5 ml/ 1/2 teaspoon sugar to each 575ml (1 pint) bottle. Seal tightly and leave the beer undisturbed until it is clear (about 1 week) before opening.

It also has herbal/medicinal uses - Gerard recommended it for its fever reducing properties which are now ascribed to the salicylic acid present in the flower buds. Salicylic acid has anti-inflammatory properties and so may be prescribed by herbalists for rehumatic or arthritic pain or feverish colds and flu. Unlike aspirin (the synthesized form of salicyclic acid) it does not irritate the stomach lining.

Do an online search and I bet you'll find plenty more uses!

*If you can get hold of one of CJJ Berry's books I'm sure there's a recipe for it in there. Otherwise, there's this american recipe you could try:

2pt flowerheads
0.6 litre white grape juice
565g sugar
8 drops tannin (I'd substitute a teabag, it's quicker and easier)
1 round tsp citric acid
1 level tsp yeast nutrient
wine yeast

All together into a fermenting bucket and topped up to a gallon with blood heat water. Cover and leave 24 hours, then strain into a demijohn, fit an airlock and leave to ferment out before racking.

[battybird]

thanks hedgehogpie!

[bobby280]

I have done a couple of foraging courses with Taste of the wild - thoroughly recommend for anyone near North Yorkshire - and from the website there is:

Meadowsweet Pannacotta serves 4

½ pt double cream
½ pt milk
2 meadowsweet flowerheads
3 tbsps sugar
2 sheets gelatine

Heat together the milk and cream until very hot but not boiling, then add the sugar and stir until dissolved. Add the meadowsweet flower heads and leave to one side while you prepare the gelatine. Soak the gelatine as per packet instructions and then take the flowers out of the cream mixture and add the gelatine to the pan. Stir it round and pour into dishes or moulds and chill to set.

[fenris]

meadowsweet beer! must do that. and the pannacotta sounds lovely. thanks for all the suggestions.

[malcolmfraser]

I picked a bag if meadowsweet this week and put it in the freezer, going to make a batch of meadowsweet champagne in a few days, same as hedgehogpie. Will let you know how it goes!

[Hedgehogpie]

Well I can confirm that both the lime blossom and meadowsweet batches worked, as one of my grolsch bottles exploded under the pressure yesterday.

Good luck with yours!

[malcolmfraser]

Hi - well the meadowsweet champagne was a big success - this was my recipe:

1 bag meadowsweet flowers (leave in bag overnight then they're much easier to separate from stalks the following day)
9 litres water
2.4 kg sugar
~30g cream of tartar
Yeast and nutrient

1. Make up the brew and leave to sit for a few days (I left it for 9 days which was a bit too long and made the resulting wine a bit heavy)
2. strain and bottle in strong PET plastic bottles (I got about 8.5 litres of liquid)
3. Wait for at least a week and enjoy!

I deliberately tried to make this proper wine strength and by my calculations it came out at 11.5%

I also found that it was significantly improved by freezing for a couple of hours before drinking - the sediment freezes to the side of the bottle so doesn't cloud the wine, and the fizziness remains in the liquid instead of exploding all over the kitchen!

I'm really pleased with the wine and this will be a staple in the coming years