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Magnolia

This not so wild, exotic, exuberant flower seems to have made itself quite at home in suburban gardens around the UK.
Aside from it's stunning, colourful appearance, it's edible.

Its flavour is somewhat exotic too, deeply floral and perfumed, with notes of peppery, ginger warmth, bitter chicory and a sort of creaminess to boot.

Magnolia is from an ancient lineage of plants, apparently hanging loose prior to the appearance of bees and it's thought the flowers evolved to be pollinated by beetles. With over 200 species among it's ranks, it has a large ancestry. From what I can gather, all species are edible and I've read/heard nothing to counter this.

The flowers usually develop and open in mid spring (I've mostly gathered them previously in the month May) but the unseasonably warm winter weather, particularly the mercury scorching 20 degree temperatures we experienced toward the end of February (2019), led to an early flowering of this beautiful plant.

The season for gathering is often over far too quick - such is the nature of many edible plants - blink and you've missed the opportunity! The weather can indeed be very fickle in the UK so, when the sun shines and it's dry, make a beeline before you are scuppered and find yourself waiting another year.

I find they work well added to wild spring salads, preferring to slice them finely due to their unique and punchy flavour but that's just my preference.

They infuse particularly well in white wine or apple cider vinegar. I add full flowers, removing the green stalk from the base and they very quickly turn the vinegar a delightful shade of pink and infuse it with a delicious flavour and aroma - I like to drizzle a sweetened version of magnolia infused vinegar onto white fish and use it as a base for a lovely summery vinaigrette dressing.

This year I've placed some whole, unopened flowers in a very sweet pickling vinegar I made last autumn, that vinegar was minimally flavoured with lemon zest, dried hogweed seeds and some ginger and I think the magnolia flowers will compliment that vinegar particularly, time will tell. I'm hoping the tight, curled, unopened flowers will retain their shape better as I often find that once the petals have been removed they tend to fold and bend created visible creases in them - I think I'm becoming particularly anal on the aesthetic front... :)


The young tender, crunchy, petals also make for great vessels in which to sit other ingredients and then be served as canapes or as the French say, amuse bouche (I think 'canape' is French also, certainly sounds it?).

I've become very fond of making ice cream and come the warmer weather, forecast for tomorrow, plan to gather a few more blossoms and make a magnolia ice cream. I have it on good authority that it makes a great sorbet too...

My friend and fellow forager, Richard Mawby, has recently steeped magnolia petals in a demerara sugar solution, he has then dehydrated the sugar soaked petals and made a delicious fudge using some of the infused sugar syrup. I literally, just 15 minutes ago made a similar sugar stock syrup using dark soft brown sugar and have filled a kilner with magnolia petals and then poured the syrup over them. I'm going to leave them for approx 5 days as Richard did and then decide on next phase makings.

So, if you're up on your flowers and find yourselves in suburbia, keep your eyes open for magnolia, a gentle knock on someones door and a polite ask, might just see you with a gathering of lovely, edible magnolia.

Happy foraging



   
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