It doesn't get much better than deep-fried flowers from the Black Locust Tree! It's an explosion of aroma, perfume and sweetness! Come into my post and you can learn to make this great treat yourself!
It's @old-guy-photos' Tree Tuesday, so I want to feature one of my favorite trees. Many of you know that I eat leaves, flowers, fruits or nuts from a lot of different trees. The flowers of Black Locust trees (Robinia pseudoacacia) are beautiful, fragrant, and so, so delicious! Deep-fried black locust flowers are a real treat! And they are so easy!
1. Forage Black Locust Flowers
I'll make a post soon with more details about identifying Black Locust trees and other ways to use their flowers. One nice thing about foraging black locust flowers is that there is no shortage of them! One tree can produce so many flowers! There are plenty for people and the bees that love their sweet nectar, too!
2. In the Kitchen
I'm sure some of you can improve on this recipe. But I like it because it's so simple -- it's just flour, water, flowers, and the deep-frying oil of your choice. That's it.
Start by mixing plain white flour and water until it's a thin batter, like a tempura batter. The goal is to just have a thin coating on the black locust flowers, from ingredients that won't interfere with the flower's sweet flavor.
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Dip a cluster of black locust flower into the batter, and let it drain off a bit. There shouldn't be a lot of batter - just a thin coating.
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Drop that flower cluster into hot oil. I use an old-fashioned electric deep fryer that I got years ago at a yard sale. I set the temperature at 350F degrees. You can use whatever mild-flavored oil you prefer for frying.
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It takes a few minutes for the flowers to cook and lightly brown. It's good to turn them over at least once. Don't walk off and forget them! When they are a uniform light brown, take them out of the oil and lay them on a towel, paper bag, or paper towels. If you keep them in a warm oven, they will stay warm and crisp until you have the whole batch ready.
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3. Enjoy!
These deep-fried black locust flowers are delicious! I topped this batch with a drizzle of warm homestead honey that I steeped with finely chopped Blue Girl rose petals. It's a wonderfully fragrant and delicious rose that really kicks up the flavor of honey!
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This is a special homestead treat, for sure! The fragrance of the warm black locust flowers is so aromatic and intoxicating. The fragrance and flavor of the Blue Girl rose - and the smell of fresh spearmint tea - adds even more to the whole experience. This is a snack that @dutchess would appreciate for her Sunday Scent Experience! It all goes so well with the tartness of a homegrown rhubarb compote, too.
What Do You Think?
I hope you get to enjoy Black Locust flowers sometime! Deep-fried, they are better than any donut, that's for sure!
- Do you eat Black Locust flowers?
- Do Black Locust trees grow near you?
- Would you try my deep-fried black locust flowers?
- What's your favorite oil for deep-frying?
I write about foraging because I believe that we can all have lives that are richer, more secure, more grounded, and more interesting by getting to know the plants and the land around us – in our yards, our parks, and our wilderness.
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** Haphazard Homestead **
Too bad I can't upvote it a thousand times; this is for me a childhood memory, a delicacy I know of thanks to my French grandfather...
Just going through your article @haphazard-hstead brings a bit of France back to me. Thanks a lot :)
Have to re-steem it!
I'm glad that you have happy memories of your grandfather and these black locust flowers! Not many people know how good they are. I hope you can enjoy some in the future, too! :D
This fascinates me on so many levels, but before even getting into the deep fried flowers, how did you make these photo gifs??? Sorry, I'm an old person who is noob at everything.
I took some video footage with my camera. I uploaded pieces to YouTube. Then I turned those pieces into gifs on giphy.com It's a process! But it's all free.
you right...fascinating indeed! nice comment..once you find out how the photo gif was made keep me posted!
do you also blog on food? nice comment
I would love to try these! Do you happen to know if they grow in Oregon?
Oh yes, they do! I am in Oregon's Willamette Valley. They are considered marginally invasive here. They are all over neighborhoods and the edge of towns and agricultural areas.
This looks amazing @haphazard-hstead! I have never tasted Black Locust flowers, but we do make a recipe here in Mauritius with Papaya flowers coated with tempura batter and deep fried same like your's.
They are just super delicious!
Btw I just posted my entry in the Steemit culinary challenge where i used 2 types of flowers and aloe vera to make a smoothie! Hope you check it out!
Cheers
@progressivechef
I've never had papaya flowers, but they sound good! It's amazing how many good flowers there are to eat, isn't it? Thanks for the heads-up on your culinary challenge post. I will head over there! :D
They actually look like the black locust flowers! The varities of consumable flowers is just wide, sometime we just don't realise it and just ignore!
Same like rose petals, oh my god I just love it when i dry it up with some sugar in the oven in a low temperature! Amazing flavor!
I hope you like the new creation!
Cheers
@progressivechef
I'd like to see your papaya flower cooking! I like how you used flowers in your Smoothie for the Culinary challenge - and the aloe vera, too!
I really like using rose petals, too! Every kind can have such a different flavor! I dry some, and I grind some with sugar, but I have never tried the way that you explain. I'll have to try that! I have a Blue Girl rose that has such thick petals and a fantastic perfume. It's great with sugar.
Thank you for such a nice compliment @haphazard-hstead, i had a great time doing this recipe!
By applying some egg-white on the petals + granulated sugar, then dry in oven...Just amazing! The red ones work best though!
I have taken time to read and watched how you prepared this. It looks so delicious. Good job .
Thanks! I hope you get a chance to try them sometime! :D
Beautiful flowers! It looks easy for cooking and good for eating!
Thanks, @tangmo! I think you would like these flowers. They are sweet and very fragrant.
You're welcome! Yes, I would certainly love these sweet and fragrant flowers! ;)
These look amazing! I love the technique and the idea and your GIFs are awesome! And topping them with honey just sounds delicious!
Thanks! You probably have some of these trees in your region, too. The flowers are such a good food. I haven't met anyone who didn't like black locust flowers, once they tried them. And who doesn't like a good tempura deep-fried thing, lol. That honey is good! : )
It just looks like perfect. It is really hot today. I won't go out. If someone gives me the natural set at home, I'll be so happy. :) @haphazard-hstead
I hope your weather gets cool enough to enjoy the outdoors! You would have a nicer day if you could eat these black locust flowers! :D
Wow looks delicious. I'm in Portland and don't ever recall seeing these trees. Maybe I need to look further out by you.
They are in the neighborhoods, for sure. When black locust trees are in flower, they are much more noticeable - with their while flower clusters. Early May is a good time to look for them in the Willamette Valley. They are almost a weed tree!
Whoa. I would REALLY like to include this post in the next issue of the Weekly Homesteading Newsletter which is a series posted every Sunday that aims to help collect awesome articles and resources like this one! This article will be linked and your username featured if you accept - please let me know if it is alright to include your article as soon as possible! Thank you and have a great day!
Yes, that would be fine - and thanks for asking. I also just submitted a post to your homesteadingchallenge about why my homestead is important to me.
Perfect, thank you!
You're welcome!
Hey there! I just wanted to inform you that your article has been included and linked in the most recent issue of the Weekly Homesteading Newsletter! Please check it out if you have the time! Thank you and have a great day!
Thanks for including my black locust flowers in your homesteading newsletter! :D
My absolute pleasure! I'm definitely going to try that recipe!
That is interesting @haphazard-hstead
Does it give carbohydrates at least or protein?
which do you prefer more in your diets...carbs or proteins and why @cryptopie
guess you a great food blogger!
nice comment
Black locust flowers are like giant flowers from pea plants, but more sweet and fragrant. So they surely have carbohydrates. I'm not sure about protein, though. They would be good for fiber, like any vegetable. But they have a nice sweetness to them.
Oh yes, the sweet taste is the carbohydrates. I can just imagine the taste of it. I am not new to eating flowers since we make a vegetable out of squash and banana flowers, not much of a taste from it tho.
These have a definite taste - much more than many other flowers. It's strong enough to come through the batter and deep-frying. I would pay money for them, they are so good! :D
I would definitely crash over there to try that if I possibly could @haphazard-hstead I also like fried foods as they are tasty and convenient for me to eat but with rice.
Omg are you serious?!?!?! Pretty crazy but I would surely try em!
Black locust flowers are real food. You guys at @gardenofeden could do wonders with these. There are probably some growing near you. They are almost a weed and take well to being cut back and growing in thickets. They were a standard tree in a lot of windbreaks in the plains states, so they are tough in cold, wind, heat and drought! I'll write more about these great trees, but here's something to wet your whistle, since you are a big proponent of hydration: : )
Well I am in NO shortage of wild edibles but they do sound nice!
Great comment btw!
Your the real deal bro!
I've been making a similar gluten free dish with Milkweed flowers/buds (people say it tastes a bit like funnel cake). You're talkin' my language, and I'm gonna be on the hunt for some Black Locust flowers (although it may be a bit late in the season). Thanks so much for the inspiration; keep up the good work!
How great that you are enjoying Milkweed buds and flowers! Milkweed is so good in so many stages! I'd bet black locust trees are near you. They are done blooming by now, but you have plenty of time to find them. That's the nice thing about eating trees -- once you find a good edible tree, it will be there for a long time! Enjoy your milkweed! :D
Wow that is fascinating. How on earth did you know about this, looks tasty :)
I don't even remember how I know this. I probably read it in a book and then tried it. I've known these trees since I've been little, so the identification is easy. That's a good way to start eating wild plants -- start by making a list of the plants that you can identify, rock solid, no question. And then find out if any of them are edible. These black locust flowers are some of the best! :D
I don't know were I could find them, There aren't many places around here :)
I love when you have a foraging solution to keep invasive plants controled!! By eating it's flowers, less seeds will be produced :))
I'm speaking in this tone because they are terrible here in our riverbanks (not so much here in the south, they are more abundant in the northern region where rainfall is bigger).
There are so many flowers on a mature black locust tree! I think one tree could feed a whole town! But they would have to cut the tree down to get to all those flowers. But at least it means people can eat all the black locust flowers they want to!
I wondered if you had these in Portugal. I was in Trieste, Italy, when they were blooming in the spring a few years ago and was impressed with how many of these trees had taken over hillsides. They look invasive to me!
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This photo is quite impressive, they seem to be invading that hill. Here in Portugal I know they occupy easily riverbanks and think in the northern region (with more rainfall) they are more common. But the best time to distinguish those trees from the others is in its flower period and I haven't done that field trip (yet). I probably should and will do it!!
I hope you can be there in northern Portugal when the black locust trees are flowering. It would small wonderful and you can eat so many flowers ! :D
I already advertise my companion that it would be great to do a trip to the north in the beginning of spring, like the one I did to Lousã this year. It may be a bit awkward, but seeing those invasive plants in flower gives me a better perspective of the area already occupied, and I "need" to calibrate my eyes with that info.
I'm not sure if we have those in my part of Michigan. The bloom doesn't look familiar. It sure is a pretty flower! I really enjoy learning about the meals you make. Ive even sent some of my fellow Steemers over to check your page out :)
Thanks for the support, @old-guy-photos! I know these grow in southern Michigan. How far north are you? I fondly recall a specific patch, about a one-third acre of these, that have a great stand of pokeweed underneath them -- in the Waterloo Recreation Area. The trees grow in the neighborhoods, too. They are considered invasive in Michigan -- so you can harvest all you want! :D
Very good then. The Waterloo Recreation Area is in my county lol! Now I can stop off for lunch!!! :)
I should let you know where all the good places are. Those black locust trees and pokeweed are on the north side of Green Lake. I'd tell you where the incredible blueberry bog is, but I don't want that on the blockchain, lol! It's an incredible place! :D
Interesting... I have never seen such a thing before. Looks delicious. Are they sweeet?
Yes, they are like a pea flower, with more nectar in them. And they are so fragrant! Black locust trees probably grow in your region, in neighborhoods or parks. They are classified as invasive plants in Connecticut! A bakery that made these would do well!
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STOPFantastic! I would never have thought of that.
Thanks! They are tree worth getting to know!
yummy and mouth watering...salivating already
keep it up and thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe...
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