Pickled magnolia blossoms
A recipe to celebrate spring
March is a month of frantic foraging in this city. If you and your mates aren’t ransacking Hackney Marshes for patches of wild garlic to crush into pesto, or scouring Hampstead Heath for gorse flowers to brew as tea, or collecting fallen camellia petals in Richmond Park to scatter on salads…are you even a Londoner?
The other day I heard a rumour that magnolia blossoms taste like ginger when pickled, so I persuaded my friend Rosie to help me forage* some from our neighbourhood. After pottering around for a while, eyes peeled for pink, we eventually found a tree in the local churchyard with branches low enough to reach.
*steal in broad daylight
I improvised a pickling brine made with random cupboard ingredients and left the blossoms soaking in it overnight. The results were epic.
Somehow the blossoms take on a crunchy texture, almost like endives. They’re peppery and floral, syrupy and sour. I’d suggest adding them to recipes that use Asian flavours like soy, seaweed, or sesame - but I can imagine them complimenting a nutty cheese in the same way a spiced chutney would, too.
Ingredients
A handful of magnolia blossoms (the younger petals in the middle work best)
Enough light-bodied vinegar to fill your jar (I used rice vinegar, but you can use white wine or apple cider too)
A healthy dollop of maple syrup (or just dump a bit of sugar in)
Salt (a few teaspoons)
Method
Find a magnolia tree and pick some blossoms (consensually, if possible).
Pull apart the petals and dry them with kitchen roll if necessary (gently, so you don’t bruise them).
Sterilise a glass jar by washing it in hot soapy water and then putting it upside down in a roasting tin while it’s still wet, and do the same with the lid. Whack the tin in the oven at 180 degrees for about 15 minutes.
Pack the magnolia petals tightly into your jar until it’s completely full.
Make the pickling brine by adding the vinegar, syrup/sugar and salt to a saucepan and heating it until everything has dissolved, stirring as needed.
Pour the hot brine over the petals and fill the jar to the brim. Use a clean spoon to push any floating petals beneath the brine so they’re completely submerged.
Pop the lid on the jar, allow it to come to room temperature, and then refrigerate.
Wait patiently for 24 hours, and enjoy.
Digital Supper Club is a newsletter written by me, Anna. What’s on the menu? Aside from tacky culinary puns, you can expect essays on the cultural significance of food; the social currency of it, its history, and its joys. I’ll be sharing recipes, restaurant reviews, my musings on food-based art and literature, and maybe even some poetry peppered here and there (I warned you about the puns).
Beautiful idea ! Excited to try 🌸