Another riverside plant in its prime at the end of June - Meadowsweet.
What Is Meadowsweet?
Filipendula ulmaria - A slender, aromatic perennial - growing to 2 metres tall in favourable conditions (fond of damp places such as meadows and river banks)..
At first glance, this plant looks like it belongs in the Umbelliferae - with its pinnate leaves and big, flattish clusters of creamy-white flowers - but it is in fact a member of the Rose family.
The leaves, when crushed, are powerfully aromatic and the flowers have a strong, sweet fragrance that has been compared to almonds, vanilla and honey (indeed the common name Meadowsweet appears to be a corruption of 'mead wort' - further reinforcing the honey conection).
I decided to give it (what is fast becoming) the standard treatment that has worked so well for Elder and Lime flowers - that is, steep the flowers in water, sugar and lemon juice, then strain and bottle.
Ridding the flowers of their myriad tiny beetles was deeply tiresome - I shook many insects off while collecting - others left when I spread the flowers on a tray and left them for an hour, more bugs dropped out when I tediously checked every inflorescence by hand. but still, a lot of them floated up and crawled out when I later added the water.
I think I was finally successful in removing all of the fauna from the flowers, but it really was a chore.
So there it is - 2.5 litres of water, a big double handful of flowers, 120g of sugar and the juice of a lemon.
The next day, the mixture was fermenting really quite enthusiastically, so I strained it into bottles - the two full bottles will be left for a fortnight (same as for lime or elder flowers) - the part bottle won't keep so well, so I'll chill it and taste it tomorrow...
Wow! The next day, it has fermented a lot and there was phenomenal pressure and fizz in the bottle - must be a lot of natural yeasts on these flowers (a sprig of these might be good for kick-starting a batch of elderflower, if it seems sluggish, which sometimes happens).
Anyway, the drink (pictures coming soon) is quite surprisingly distinctive. Very fizzy, sweet and with an intense and quite pure almond flavour. There's a bit of an odd twang on the nose, but that might just be the yeast from the initial rapid fermentation - and might attenuate a bit in the bottle.
Definitely a pleasant drink, but I can't imagine quaffing gallons of the stuff, just because the flavour is so strong - it's like drinking liquid marzipan - but it might work quite well as a cocktail mixer, maybe along with elderflower, or with something quite sharp or bitter.
Smaller bottles next time.
