Local Care Midwifery, PLLC: Locust Blossom Time!

Thursday, May 28, 2015

Locust Blossom Time!

It is a magical time -Locust Blossom Time!

Right now, for maybe another week (at least in UpState NY), the locust tres are blooming. The fragant, white clusters are visible in the woods, in yards and all along the NorthWay. My lawn is framed with white capped trees and scattered with wind blown blossoms.

This weekend I decided to forgage some blossoms. Of course, since I 'live in the future' (my eldest son's term for this time of internet et al), I searched the web before setting out. Black locust are magical (I already knew that), and the blossoms are edible. One blogger described the the flowers as having "a divine flavor that is akin to a snow pea dipped in honey, with an ambrosia like aroma." Just before I headed out the door, my Google quest landed me in France; Jacques Pepin's apprenticeship included frying Locust Flower Fritters. Ah! Now I had a recipe to go along with my foraging.

Enough clusters of flowers were collected so that I had 4 cups of blossoms (leaves and stems removed).

Flowers were gently rinsed and spun dry (thank you handy lettuce spinner).

Veering only slightly from the recipe, I added 4 Tablespoons of my favorite orange liqueur and 1/4 sugar. These were massaged into the flowers which where then covered and placed in the fridge to rest for an hour.

I heated oil (about an inch) in my trusty cast iron skillet while making the batter. 1 bottle of beer was whsked into 1 1/2 cups of flour. Then, 2 egg whites (beaten until stiff but not dry) were folded into that bubbling beer-flour batter.

Last but not certainly not least, the locust blossoms were gently incorporated into the batter.

Batter was carefully spooned into the hot oil. Fritters were turned when their edges curled a crispy brown. Then, when the second side was done, they placed on a cooling rack and sprinkled generously with powdered sugar.