Herbal Spotlight: Common Milkweed, With Milkweed Blossom Cordial Recipe

​Common Milkweed [Asclepias syriaca] is not only edible, it is delicious!  Far from hurting the butterflies by harvesting some ourselves, by caring for & planting it, we help ourselves AND the declining Monarchs!
So often dismissed as a bothersome weed, this plant actually has a long history of interesting uses in addition to delicious, culinary aspects. In this post, we will make some milkweed cordial & learn more about it--

Before we begin, I would like to remind my beloved readers that Nature is powerful & is to be respected. One must be very clear of WHAT they are harvesting, HOW it was grown [near heavily trafficked roads? sprayed with pesticides?] & how they plan to USE it.  There are many species of milkweed & I am focusing specifically on Common Milkweed, which, from stalk to flower to seed pod, is edible.  Some species in this family, such as dogbane & butterfly weed, are NOT edible. It is crucial you are 100% sure of the ID of any plant before harvesting & using it. Also, it is important to only take what you will use & be sure not to overpick from any one plant or stand of plants in order to ensure their continued growth. Cheers!

Common Milkweed is found all over the United States, but has been labeled with threatened status in some areas. As the sole source of food for Monarch Butterfly caterpillars, its decline in many areas is closely tied to their decline. I am hopeful highlighting its usefulness [& deliciousness] will encourage people to actively plant, care for, & tend these plants instead of weeding them out of their gardens.

A plant with an  interesting history, some of its non-culinary applications include the stock fibers being used for cordage & the waterproof “fluff” fibers of the seed pods standing in as life-vest fill during World War II.  Pretty cool stuff!  They reproduce not only by seed, but also by underground rhizome, which facilitates naturalized clusters & stands of the plants-- & are many gardeners issue with the vilified plants.  There are numerous foraging books that can supply you with recipes for the tender shoots, the leaves, & the seed pods. While every bit of this plant is edible, I am going to focus, as I so often do, on the flowers & what we can make with them!

The gorgeous, pink-purple flowers of the Common Milkweed are heaven scented & literally dripping with nectar. They are very sweet without being cloying, with notes very similar to strawberries. Their flavor lends itself nicely to making syrups, sorbets, jellies, & drinking shrubs. Milkweed flowers' natural sweetness makes them an ideal partner for tart & savory flavors. These beauties grow in large, round umbels with as many as 100 tiny flowers in a single bunch & a little goes a long way! They are delightful sprinkled over fish or salads, or served with cheeses. And they make fantastic floral syrups, which we will here explore in depth!

As we find quite often when working with flowers, the flavor of milkweed blossoms is very delicate. Because of this, there are a number of ways to approach making Milkweed Syrup.  Most resources recommend not washing the flowers prior to use, as rinsing can wash away much of their rich nectar. I have found it almost impossible to completely rid my umbels of unwanted hitchikers without a careful picking over & quick rinse. We are not the only onces in search of that nectar! 

I still find my flowers loaded with flavor & have not noticed any decrease in taste caused by these quick rinses. Some people craft their syrup by boiling sugar & water, then adding the blossoms & steeping overnight. I prefer to do a slow solar infusion over 3 days to maximize extraction, & to let the flavors build & marry. In order to do this, I use citric acid as a modulator, technically making this a cordial not a syrup. Let me show you how--

Milkweed Cordial

2.5 cups sugar [or xylitol or monk fruit] 
2 cups Water 
1/2 tsp Citric Acid 
3-4  Common Milkweed Flower Umbels 
TIME

Start by crafting a basic simple syrup: placing the sugar & water in a saucepan over medium heat. Heat, stirring to dissolve the sweetener. Bring almost to a boil, then remove from heat. Stir in citric acid & allow your syrup to cool to room temperature. Check your flower clusters one more time for unwanted guests & remove the tiny flowers from the stems. Place the blossoms in the bottom of a sterile jar with a tight sealing-lid.

Syrup Steeping Day 1

​Pour the cooled syrup over the flowers, covering them completely & pressing them down to submerge with a wooden spoon. Seal the jar & place it in a sunny window.
Your syrup will start out clear but slowly take on a beautiful pink hue as the nectar is extracted from the flowers, deepening in color daily.

Give your jar a light shake each day. I love to watch the change in color happen; it is not often one gets to see flavor building & deepening each day. Very enjoyable! This image is day 2 & you can see the pink color developing. Steep your syrup for 3 or 4 days.

Syrup Steeping Day 2.

​Strain the lot, pressing the soaked blossoms with a wooden spoon. You can now compost or toss the spent flowers. Re-strain the syrup with a very fine mesh & pour it into a nice bottle to keep. Milkweed Cordial should be stored in the fridge & will keep for about 4 weeks.

Cocktails made with Milkweed Cordial. □: K.Menard

And there it is -- Gorgeous, delicious Milkweed Cordial! Use it to make amazing drinks, drizzle it over vanilla ice cream, or make a sorbet base with it!  I hope you give it a try-- & please do share with me how you use it! For those of you locals wishing to taste it before making, I will be featuring Milkweed as my  ‘Blooming Fresh’ option for a Brunch at Cupacity July 17th & for 
After Hours Cocktail Evenings there too. Until next time, take care & don’t forget to #StopAndEatTheFlowers