You can watch her foraging and food preservation videos, and follow her food adventures at Leda’s Urban Homestead. Leda Meredith is the author of Northeast Foraging: 120 Wild and Flavorful Edibles from Beach Plums to Wineberries. Don’t expose pickled redbud blossoms to heat or their texture and color will diminish (no boiling water bath canning for these). Be sure to unscrew the lid to release pressure a few times a day. Place the jar on a small plate and leave at room temperature for three days, away from direct sunlight which could discolor the flowers. Some brine will leak out when you do so: that’s okay. Make sure the jar is completely full, then simply screw on the lid to keep the blossoms submerged under the brine. Fill a clean jar with the redbud blossoms, then cover them with the brine. In other words, one cup of brine per cup of flowers. Plan on an equal amount of brine by volume for the quantity of redbud buds that you have gathered. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt per cup of brine and stir to dissolve. Combine equal parts white vinegar and water. Rinse the flower clusters under cold water. The texture of these pickled redbud blossoms is best if you collect the flower buds before they have fully opened. Use these piquant and colorful pickles instead of capers in any recipe that calls for the latter. They are fantastic raw on salads, but can also be pickled, added to sorbets, and are even good in muffins and baked goods. How to Eat Redbud Flowersīesides adding gorgeous color to food, redbud blossoms have an interesting flavor that starts out with a green bean-like taste and then develops a pleasantly sour aftertaste. Leave plenty of flowers on each branch both so that others can enjoy their beauty and so that some can mature and go to seed. Harvest Redbud Flowers SustainablyĬollecting the blossoms doesn’t damage the trees, but it’s a good idea not to strip the branches bare. Once brown and mature, these seed pods often persist on the branches long after the trees have dropped their leaves in the autumn. In late spring and early summer the flowers become pods that look like small snow peas. The heart-shaped leaves have smooth edges, stalks with slightly swollen bases, and grow in an alternate pattern on the branches. The individual blossoms have an irregular shape like pea flowers, and indeed redbud is in the same legume plant family (Fabaceae) as peas. The clusters of pink or magenta blossoms appear before the leaves and seem to be growing directly out of the bark. The bark of young redbuds is smooth but becomes craggy as the trees mature. Redbuds are small trees with branches that often grow in a quirky zigzag pattern. Home Organization News, Blog, & Articles.Energy Efficiency News, Blog, & Articles.
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