Mighty Meadowsweet
Meadowsweet flourishes in damp soil in grassland in areas where water levels rise and fall. You might spot it in a damp meadow or on a riverbank. We have plenty growing close to Devil’s Water. It might not be to everyone’s taste, but you’re unlikely to mistake the sickly sweet and frothy flower.
Other common names include lady of the meadow, maid of the meadow, meadow queen, meadow wort, queen of the meadows, bittersweet, bridewort, kiss-me-quick, sweet bay.
Apparently it was a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I, who used the plant instead of straw on her chamber floors. It was once valued for its lasting fragrance; the dried flowers were strewn across floors to perfume the home. It was also used in Anglo-Saxon times to flavour mead.
It has painkilling properties thanks to compounds similar to aspirin. It was steeped in water as a relieving tea before medicines for pain were widespread.
On mass they are a beautiful sight, and the heady, almond, vanilla, and honey scent is easily transferred to a delicious cordial to enjoy all summer long.
Meadowsweet Cordial
Large bunch of Meadowsweet (about 50 heads)
2 Lemons
500g sugar (split in half)
2 litres Water
Strip the meadowsweet blossoms from the stems and stalks, and put to one side to give bugs a chance to scuttle off.
Take a large sauce pan and bring two litres of water to the boil slowly and dissolve 250g of sugar in it. Once the sugar has dissolved take off the boil and add some lemon zest and submerge all your meadowsweet flowers. Leave overnight or up to 12 hours.
Then filter off the flowers and return to the boil with a further 250 grams of sugar and lemon juice. Boil for five minutes and then pour into sterilised bottles and seal while hot.
The leaves and stems of meadowsweet contain salicylates which gives them a medicinal ‘Savlon’ taste so its best to strip the flowers from the stems first. It’s best just infuse it as you then get the taste of the flowers and not the stems.