Recipe Honey Lilac End of Summer Cocktail

[The Late Night Gourmet]

When I visited my parents a few months ago, I noticed that my mom had a bag with dried flowers in it. She confirmed that they were lilacs. My mind naturally went to recipe-related possibilities. I then completely forgot about them until just before the recipe challenge deadline. But, that's the nice thing about dried things: they generally keep indefinitely.

I naturally thought of a tea, but then I decided on something stronger. Mind you, fresh lilacs are a lot prettier, and will create a cleaner infusion. This one came out dark and muddy, but the flavor did come through quite nicely. It's not pretty, but it did the job. Note that:

• The dried lilacs are symbolic of autumn (I just lucked out with that correlation, but that certainly sounds good, doesn't it?)
• The color does look like an autumn drink, rather than a bright summery drink.
• The decorative glasses and decanter attempt to bridge the global gap and unite the world in something that many of us can agree on: a good drink is a good thing!

Ingredients

1/4 ounce dried lilacs
12 ounces of water
1 orange, zested and juiced
2 tablespoons of honey
3 ounces of good gin (or more!)

Directions

1. Bring water to a boil, then lower to a simmer. Add dried lilacs.

2. Add orange zest to the pot. Stir in honey until completely dissolved. Allow to steep for 30 minutes.

4. Strain out the contents of the pot; reserve liquid and discard the remains. Refrigerate liquid until fully cooled.

5. Add liquid, grated cucumber, the juice from the orange, and the gin to a shaker or some other container with a lid.

6. Shake contents a few times, then refrigerate the entire container until fully cooled. Strain out the contents and serve. NOTE: shaken drinks often add ice to chill them. If you have room in your shaker (which I didn't), you can do this, but know that it will dilute the drink.

 

[Morning Glory]

It sounds intriguing. I didn't even know you could eat lilacs!