Magnolia Syrup: A Gingery Floral Sweet Treat
Did you know you can eat magnolia petals? Magnolia syrup is floral in tone with surprising ginger notes. It’s a great way to capture the essence of these fleeting spring flowers.
As we’re in prime magnolia season right now, I thought I’d give you a slightly different spring recipe to see March out. I do like cooking with foraged ingredients, whether that be out in the woods and fields or in the garden. It’s surprising how many garden flowers are edible. Magnolias, which are amongst the oldest flowering plants, are one of them.
If you pick blossoms, always ask permission first if the tree isn’t yours.
Can you Eat Magnolia Flowers?
Well, you’ve probably gathered by now that indeed you can eat magnolia blossoms. Or at least the petals. The base of the flower is bitter and best removed before you down it. In fact magnolia flowers have been eaten in China for millennia. They’re said to have medicinal properties, but I’m no expert, so I won’t say any more about that.
Recently, as in yesterday, I spotted a post on how to pickle magnolia blossoms at Kavey Eats. I can’t tell you how excited I am by this idea. As soon as I saw it I dashed straight to CT saying “I didn’t know magnolia blossoms were edible”. He shrugged nonchalantly and said, “yeah, of course”. Honestly, what else hasn’t he told me in all these years?
We have a Magnolia x loebneri growing in the garden and it’s beautiful. Every year it flowers prolifically. Sadly, this year has been so windy, the blossoms are blowing off nearly as fast as they’re forming. So it seemed like a good time to harvest some of them and try out a recipe or two. Even though the petals on this one aren’t particularly fleshy.
One of the best edible species is Magnolia x soulangeana. So if you have one of those, it’s a good one with which to start your edible magnolia journey. Magnolia grandiflora is another and it just so happens we have one of those in the garden too. So I’m looking forward to trying a flower when one comes into bloom. They bloom infrequently and sparsely in my experience.
Pickled Magnolia Petals
As well as the magnolia syrup, we also pickled some of the petals. Turns out they’re really good and we shall be making them again. They look and taste a little like Japanese pickled ginger. They’d be great with sushi although we found they make a lovely accompaniment to bread and cheese.
What do Magnolia Blossoms Taste Like?
The flavour of magnolia petals is really interesting. They don’t smell of ginger, but ginger is the first flavour to hit your tastebuds. In fact our magnolia flowers don’t really smell of anything, which is why the taste is so surprising when you eat one.
Following the ginger comes a slight floral test. And in some cases there’s a hint of bitterness.
In addition to pickles and syrup, you can add fresh magnolia petals to salads, sandwiches or stir fries.
Over the years, I’ve made rose, lilac, elderflower and now magnolia syrup. Out of all of them lilac was my least favourite and I wouldn’t bother ever making that again. But although rose will forever remain my favourite and is the most useful, I’m pretty sure I shall make some magnolia again next year.
Magnolia Syrup
I based my magnolia syrup recipe on the rose syrup recipe I make every year. I use it in any number of ways. Head over to the post to find out what some of these are. It’s incredibly easy to make and if you keep it in the fridge, it will last ages.
If you want to try making magnolia syrup, I suggest you make just a small amount, in case you don’t like it. The recipe below produces 250ml of sweet syrup. You can always make a larger quantity once you’ve established you like it.
The first thing you need to do is remove the petals from the central ovaries with their attached stamens. This part is bitter and will spoil the syrup. I picked 25g of blossoms which gave me 20g of petals. Then it’s just a simple process of dissolving sugar in water and simmering the petals in it for twenty minutes or so. In fact, it’s exactly the same method as for my rose syrup.
Magnolia petals start to turn brown quite quickly, so you’ll need to make this syrup soon after you’ve picked them. Luckily, it’s super easy and quite quick.
I use golden caster sugar for this recipe. But if you’d prefer a lighter colour use white sugar instead. Granulated or caster are both fine.
You can use the magnolia syrup as a cordial. Just dilute it in cold, hot or fizzy water to taste. You can also use it in cakes, whip it up with some cream or simply pour over ice-cream or pancakes. In fact, it makes quite a nice gingery substitute.
How Long Does Magnolia Syrup Last?
It keeps well in the fridge for up to a year and it freezes well too. To freeze, either pour into a plastic drink bottle or for smaller quantities use an ice cube tray. As soon as the syrup is frozen, remove from the tray and place the cubes in a plastic bag.
Other Floral Recipes You Might Like
- Chocolate Easter cupcakes with crystallised flowers
- Chocolate lavender cake
- Dandelion honey
- Lavender honey cake with honey cream cheese icing
- Rose cupcakes
- Rhubarb fairy cakes with edible flowers
- Rhubarb and rose polenta cake
- Wisteria syrup
For plenty more ideas head over to my floral recipes board on Pinterest
Magnolia Syrup. PIN IT.
Keep in Touch
Thanks for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make this magnolia syrup, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. Indeed if you’ve ever made anything with magnolia flowers I’d be interested. And do please rate the recipe. Do share photos on social media too and use the hashtag #tinandthyme, so I can spot them.
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Choclette x
Magnolia Syrup – The Recipe
Magnolia Syrup
Ingredients
- 25 g magnolia flowers (petals alone weigh 20g) – unsprayed
- 150 g granulated sugar or caster sugar
- 150 ml water
Instructions
- Strip the petals from the ovaries at the base.25 g magnolia flowers
- Place sugar and water in a pan and place over a low heat until the sugar is fully dissolved.150 g granulated sugar, 150 ml water
- Add the magnolia petals and leave uncovered to barely simmer for twenty minutes.
- Strain the syrup through a sieve into a sterilised bottle. Seal and leave to cool.
Notes
Nutrition Estimate
Sharing
I’m sharing this magnolia syrup with Recipes Made Easy for #CookBlogShare.
Hi there! I just tried my hand at making this and the smell is incredible! However the syrup came out to be quite bitter. I made sure to only use petals in making it but maybe I overcooked it? Or possibly I used a different kind of magnolia than you. Do you think there’s anything I can add to it to save it? Thanks!!
Hi Jordan, how very disappointing for you. It could be the variety or colour of magnolia or how old the petals are, though this is the first time I’ve heard about excessive bitterness. There’s usually some bitter notes in wild food, but they shouldn’t dominate. Overcooking seems unlikely. I guess, it’s a good idea to taste the petals before using. I will amend my post. All I can suggest is to either add more sugar or some acidity to balance out the bitter. Do let me know how you get on.
Ive just made a couple of batches of this. One with coconut sugar and the other with Demerara as thats all I had in my cupboard. Im looking forward to trying them out and to see if I have a preference 🙂
I did wonder if this syrup could be used to make cookies or cake ? I was thinking if it’s quite gingery it might work ok. Would love to know what you think , and thanks for sharing the recipe. I have a magnolia tree in my garden that it the biggest in the town and bring me great joy to watch it through the seasons 🙂
You’re lucky, Magnolia’s are absolutely glorious and bring joy to so many passers by. Hopefully the demerara and coconut sugars won’t overwhelm the magnolia flavour – it’s not super strong. Crossing fingers for you. I would absolutely use the syrup for cakes and bakes. If you look at my recipes that use rose syrup, you’ll find a few ideas there for baking that might cross over.
Hi there! Can you use magnolia petals that are bruised/weather-beaten to make this syrup? I’m trying to use just petals that have fallen off the tree, but quite a few of them have gotten smashed by rain and foot traffic.
Hi Maddie, oh no, pick them off the tree. Smashed leaves aren’t going to be very aromatic and it would be difficult to wash them too. You don’t need loads, so I’m sure the tree won’t miss them too much.
I just made a batch of this with petals from a friend’s tree. It’s so easy to make and so tasty. Now we’re thinking up ways to use it. First up – in salad dressing, and I’m going to add the sugary petals to the salad.
Ooh, I like the idea of adding it to a salad dressing and not wasting the petals either. Good to hear you like the recipe and thanks for feeding back.
I’m excited to try this and wonder whether I can effectively use coconut sugar, as I don’t eat cane sugar and don’t have (nor have I heard of) caster sugar. Coconut sugar doesn’t dissolve the same way, so I’m somewhat doubtful..
I’m sure coconut sugar will be fine. The syrup will just have a darker colour and it will taste different. I use coconut sugar quite a lot, but can’t remember if I’ve tried dissolving it or not. It seems a bit strange that it wouldn’t. Just try a teaspoon in a little warm water and leave it for a while. See what happens.
Ooooh, I expect this syrup would make a lovely candy!
I’m going to try both. I don’t have many petals as I have a young tree still.
Interesting idea Tammy. I think you’re probably right. Let me know if the candy is a success. And how lovely to have a young magnolia and watch it blossom more and more each year.
Hi! I have a magnolia liliiflora and am interested in making syrup as a gift for neighbors and friends. Would I be able to add a petal to the bottle and if so how long would they last.
Thanks!
Hi Krista. You can certainly add a petal to the syrup for effect, but I suspect it wouldn’t last nearly as long. I haven’t tried it, but I’d be cautious.
I had no idea you could do this, how interesting and it must be a really perfumed syrup. Lovely.
It’s not as perfumed as you might think. Floral notes are there for sure, but the predominant flavour is ginger. It’s not at all what you’d expect.
I make lots of edible flower recipes (there is something wonderful about eating flowers…) but have never made anything with magnolia. I had no idea that it was edible or that it tasted of ginger. My neighbours have a huge magnolia in their garden which is just coming into bloom so I will be requesting a few blossoms.
Yes it’s quite astonishing. Like you I’m an edible flower fan, but had no idea about magnolias. And I certainly didn’t expect them to taste of ginger. They’re all meant to be a bit different, but as I understand it, the ginger flavour is always there. Let me know how you get on.
Magnolia smells so beautiful and if magnolia syrup tastes as good I am sure it’s delicious. Shared
Thank you Monika. Weirdly our magnolia doesn’t smell at all, which is why I was so surprised by the flavour.
I had no idea magnolias were edible. What a great idea!
Yes, I’m still feeling excited by the concept of eating magnolias.
This is so interesting! There are so many edible plants around us that we have forgotten about, or if they are “newly arrived” in the country, never knew about! It’s one of the most satisfying aspects of cooking for me, when you can have some simple thing that grows by itself as the main ingredient in a recipe! Thanks, Choclette!
Yes, it really is interesting and there’s so much still to discover I’m sure. I guess you’re probably right, it’s because we haven’t evolved with magnolias in the same way as we have with our native plants that we’ve not got into the habit of using them.
I had no idea that you could even use magnolia blossoms in food! I would love to try this recipe but I might have to do a bit of looking for the blossoms we don’t typically have magnolias trees around where we live. This sounds so good though!
Ah well, if you don’t have magnolias growing where you are, that could be a problem. But there might be other flowers around you could use instead.
Who would have thought? I watch my Magnolia tree come into blossom, they fade next day and they’re gone. Now I can do something with those beautiful creamy white blooms. They are big wide blooms but not many at one time. While mine are white and yours looked blushing pink, they are all the same for syrup? I hope.
Flowering is all over this year but I shall keep this in mind for next season. How wonderful to be able to make something edible with these beautiful blooms.
It sounds like yours might be a grandiflora Mary. They are meant to be one of the best for eating apparently. I haven’t tried them yet, but I’m hoping too as we have one in the garden. It just doesn’t flower very often.
You literally just blew my mind with this post. I had NO idea magnolia flowers were edible, let alone that you can make a syrup with them! So cool!
Yes, it’s an exciting world Leslie. I love making new discoveries like this.