Meadowsweet

"It helpeth speedily those that are troubled with the cholic being boiled in wine; and stayeth the flux on the belly".

It's funny that this arcane language, the language of the original herbalist Nicholas Culpeper, somehow aptly suits meadowsweet. To taste it is to taste history. Rather like looking at the faces painted by Rembrandt – faces that you never see looking out at you from the glossy pages of Hello – this flavour seems to come from an ancient species, one from which modern flavours have developed.

Meadowsweet, along with water mint and vervain, were three sacred Druidic herbs. This is the plant of Chaucer, of Culpeper, a plant of the 14th-16th century. Mead and marzipan are the only modern foods that taste any way similar, and mead and marzipan are not especially modern! Meadowsweet is certainly sweet, and has a heady scent that attracts bees. Walking along a country road and identifying the smell of meadowsweet is one of life's pleasures.

In more recent history, meadowsweet has been a useful and productive plant. It is the plant that gave its name to asprin, and was the original painkiller.

Making a cordial is a good way to express its flavour. You can dry the flowers and use to flavour a mayonnaise, or sprinkle over yogurt. The flavour compliments gooseberries and a breakfast of gooseberries stewed with meadowsweet, with yogurt sprinkled with meadowsweet flowers makes a beautiful summer breakfast.

Meadowsweet cordial/syrup

1 litre water
1k sugar
about 12 meadowsweet flowerheads
2 lemons & 1 lime

Shake the meadowsweet to remove any insects. Pour the water and sugar into a saucepan. Grate in the zest from the lemons and limes and heat, stirring as it comes to a boil and the sugar dissolves. Pour the hot syrup over the meadowsweet and leave overnight.

The next morning, strain the syrup and add the citrus juice. Bottle into clean sterile bottles, and store in the fridge once opened.



Gooseberries with Meadowsweet

2 punnets (about 450g) gooseberries
¾ cup meadowsweet syrup
½ cup water

Top and tail the gooseberries and place in a saucepan with the syrup and water. Bring to the boil and then turn off the heat.




Meadowsweet Mayonnaise

½ cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon rapeseed oil
1 tablespoon dried meadowsweet flowers

Beat the oil into the mayonnaise, and then stir in the flowers. Leave for an hour for the flavours to infuse.