Black Locust Recipe - Black Locust Flower Syrup

Black locust infused sugar

Making syrups to mix into drinks and dilute with seltzer is a common Hungarian tradition. Ripe fruits or fragrant flowers become the flavor components for the sugar syrup, ascorbic acid is added as a preservative and tart flavor booster. We get powdered ascorbic acid (vitamin C) at GNC in an 8 oz bottle and it lasts for a long time. Here we used black locust flowers (Robinia pseudoacacia) as the flavoring agent, and mixed it with seltzer for a refreshing drink. Robert rims the glass with sugar infused with more black locust flowers for an even more fragrant flavor. The syrup is added to seltzer or water at a 1:7 ratio to make the final drink.

Black Locust Flower Syrup                       makes about 4+ cups of syrup

2 1/4 c. water

3 c. sugar

2 c. packed black locust flowers

3 T ascorbic acid powder

1. Heat the water to boiling and add the sugar. Remove from the heat, and stir until the sugar dissolves.

2. Allow the sugar syrup to cool to 80°F, then add the black locust flowers. Let the flowers steep in the syrup for 24 hours.

3. Filter out the flowers and give them a squeeze to extract all the flavor.

4. Remove 1 cup of the syrup, and warm it up. Add the ascorbic acid, stirring to dissolve it. Pour the syrup back into the rest, mixing well. Store in airtight containers.

Black Locust flower cluster