The acacia has beautiful and highly perfumed flowers. Rubber Slippers in Italy makes fritelle with them and we have a good friend in Lombardia (Lombardy) who produces the most delicate organic acacia honey.
I also saw this intriguing recipe for Liquore di Robinia in the Italian magazine: Fuori Casa (March 2006 # 7)
- 200 g acacia flowers
- 500 g granulated sugar
- 1 litre pure alcohol
- 2 tbsp acacia honey
- 1 litre water
Clean the flowers with a dry cloth, or soft brush. Put alternate layers of the flowers and sugar in a large glass bowl. Cover and leave to infuse for 48 hours. Then add the alcohol and honey. Leave the infusion until you can see that the sugar has totally dissolved. (Approximately one month.) Add the water and stir gently. Strain the liquid well and bottle.
Despite their beauty, their perfume, the fritters, the honey and the liqueur, the acacia flowers pose a problem for us as we can’t open the swimming pool for guests until the flowers have dropped. This is because they sink straight to the bottom and turn into some strange gluey, porridge which clogs the filters.
In order not to disappoint, we tell people who are interested in visiting Casalba that we can’t open the pool until the acacia flowers have dropped. Luckily, this confetti effect usually happens towards the end of May, which is just about the right time for most guests who wish to take a dip.
Alternatively, I suppose we could just make gallons of liqueur and tons of fritelle.
Absolutely beautiful! It reminds me of wisteria.
I always thought that Acacia was a wattle tree (Mimosa) native to Australia. I’ve had the Acacia honey, it’s my favorite though not easy to get a hold of in shops.
I really love the acacia honey (on cheese!), and if my life had taken a different turn, I might have ended up working as a perfume maker, or at least those who live in the world of extracting essences and scents. After watching the movie Perfume (The Story of a Murderer) it was all I could do to keep myself from nosing into every new bloom that we saw on our hikes.
We are slowly getting back into the usual routine — more rain is supposed to fall for the coming week!
Hello Sally, so nice to see you spring up again :-)
Your photos are brilliant , I don’t think I have ever seen an Acacia tree…,.. Oh what a shame about the swmming pool, not good :-(
Take care Anne
Cara Sally,
Agree w Anne. How nice to see you pop up again. Missed you a great deal. I love the acacia honey. Ours, also a bio product, comes from a small-scale local producer. Delicious! We also have problems opening the pool – until the laurel tree has stopped dropping its tiny flowers. Now is the time…. weather permitting. We pray for good weather now. So tired of the rains. Bacione and take care, cara! Ingrid
Gorgeous. I have this thing about acacia trees. I’d never heard of them growing up in Michigan and first came across them reading One Hundred Years of Solitude.
When I moved to New Zealand I fell in love with the tree in our backyard which has blue-ish feathery leaves and tiny bright yellow flowers in very early spring. They call it a ‘wattle’ here and it’s a native of Australia. Turns out it’s a type of acacia. Looks like this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Acacia_baileyana.jpg
I wonder if the South American variety looks more like yours or ours. I suspect yours.
Now you’re thinking Sally! gallons of liquor and honey… let me know when:) They look wonderful when they’re not at the bottom of the pool.
Hi Sally-great to hear from you again. How beautiful these flowers are-we have acacia trees, but their flowers don’t look like that.
Hello Sally,
Every year, about this time (depending on the meteorological conditions…) I go out and pick elder flowers to make a non-alcoholic syrup which, when added to still or sparkling water, makes a wonderful cordial; a nectar that the Gods would drink.
I saw your recipe for Liquore di Robinia and I was just wondering if you, or anyone else, had a recipe for a non-alcoholic drink made from the flowers of the acacia. Their perfume is enticing and I’m sure their flavor could be captured in a tisane or a sweet cordial.
Maybe I could try your recipe without the alcohol…?
If you have any ideas, I’d love to hear from you. Bravo for the pics; don’t you just want to pick ’em an’ eat ’em ?
All the best
Christopher Pearson
Dear Christopher,
I don’t have a recipe for acacia cordial, but if you click on
“Eat Weeds”
that’s your very chappy! If he doesn’t know – no one will.
Lovely, lovely, lovely (do I repeat myself?)
The recipe sounds interesting too!
xoxo
Lots of acacia honey here too, although the best part about the trees for us is when it’s time for the “potatura”…the goats *love* the leaves/branches even with the spines :D
See that we learn something everyday, thanks for sharing:) That honey must sweet!! “Beautiful flowers”
Thanks for the recipe.
The photos are beautiful
So thanks for sharing.
Aanee xxx
From Ireland :)
Happy New Year, Sally! From all the Madcap Menagerie here on the “Funny Ffarm”. xx
I never have quite got to cooking flowers. this post makes me think I need to do so.
Casalba, Casalba! Where are your posts?! You haven’t posted in nearly a year. We’re waiting… :-)
You’re right! I lost the track a bit.