Blooming lilacs give off a distinctive, delightful scent. You can capture this and preserve it for the rest of the year by drying the flowers. Dried lilac blossoms can be used, for example, for scented sachets, potpourris or for scenting homemade bath bombs or perfume.
For example, lilac can be pressed and dried
Why dry lilac flowers? possible uses
First of all, an important note: lilac smells wonderfully sweet, but tastes very bitter. In addition, the flowers and leaves in particular are considered slightly poisonous, which is why you should not use them to decorate dishes, for teas, elder sugar or similar. Lilac berry juice and lilac blossom tea consists of the fruits or blossoms of the black elderberry, which is also known as "lilac" especially in northern Germany. For this reason, there are often confusions that result in the typical lilac recipes on various websites. However, you can use dried lilac flowers for other purposes.
Fragrant potpourri
For example, a wonderful potpourri can be put together from the dried blossoms of lilac, roses and other aromatically scented plants, which scents a room (e.g. the bathroom) or the linen closet. In addition to flowers, spices, bark, wood or aromatic leaves can also be used. Dried lilac blossoms harmonize very well with these ingredients:
- rose petals
- jasmine flowers
- violet root
- violet blossoms
- myrtle leaves
- cedar
- sandalwood
The individual components must be dried well and then crushed. Store the fragrance mixture in a linen bag, which is tied with a piece of string.
Make your own bath bombs
Homemade bath bombs can also be scented with dried lilac blossoms.
Ingredients:
250 grams baking soda (no baking powder!)
125 grams of citric acid
60 grams of cornstarch
60 grams of coconut oil or another vegetable fat
dried lilac flowers, more osmanthus flowers on request
possibly lilac essential oil
That's how it's done:
- Mix baking soda, citric acid and cornstarch in a bowl
- Mix in the flowers
- mix the melted fat with the lilac oil
- slowly (teaspoons) add the fat to the dry ingredients and mix
- Form balls and put in the fridge for a few hours
- Dry the bath bombs for a few days, pack them up and give them away
Drying lilac blossoms - Here's how
Lilac blossoms can be dried in a very simple way: On a dry day (it must not have rained!), collect suitable panicles of flowers as early as possible in the morning. Then pluck off the small blossoms and spread them out on a dry tea towel. Dry them in a dark and warm place for a few days. Then fill them in small screw-top jars and they will keep longer.
tips
Put the fresh or dried lilac blossoms in oil for a few days, for example jojoba oil or another oil that is kind to the skin, and you can use it to make a lilac-scented soap or cream.
The garden journal freshness ABC
How can fruit and vegetables be stored correctly so that they stay fresh for as long as possible?
The garden journal freshness ABC as a poster:
- as a free PDF file to print out yourself