Nature Happenings #5

Glorious gorse! (and a recipe for syrup)

Hello, Emma here! At this time of year, the hills around our home are covered in a glorious burst of sunshine yellow. Common gorse (Ulex europaeus) can flower all year round and its always a joy to see such vivid colours against a drab grey winter’s sky. In spring however it really puts on a riotous show, covering whole hillsides in gold. The fiercely spiky dark evergreen stems are densely clustered with beautiful yellow bilaterally symmetrical flowers which are worth a closer look. Each one is perfectly formed to allow insects to access the sweet nectar inside whilst giving them a sneaky dusting of pollen at the same time. If you watch a patch of gorse for long enough, you’ll see bees and all manner of other pollinators wriggling their way inside the flowers. All members of the pea family have similar shaped flowers - it’s interesting to compare the shape of gorse flowers to those of the peas that you might grow at home or the little trefoils that pop up on your lawn.

The smell of gorse bushes on a warm spring day is also incredible, the sweet, tropical scent of coconut and vanilla invoking the promise of summer, reminding us of sunscreen, surf wax and ice cream.

Gorse flowers are edible (in moderation, all members of the pea family produce nitrogen and contain small amounts of potentially toxic alkaloids, so go easy). Benji says they taste like fizzy Haribo, we’ll let you decide if you agree!

Each April I make a syrup infused with the flowers that captures the coconut flavours beautifully. I learned this recipe from the excellent book ‘Forage’ by Liz Knight of Forage Fine Foods and have made it for the last 3 years. It’s delicious.

How to make gorse syrup:
Collect around a pint of gorse flowers. If you can, pick them on a sunny morning and choose flowers that are already warmed by the sun, as these will be releasing peak scent and flavour.

Back home, lay out your flowers for an hour or so to let any bugs escape and then add them to a large jar. Dissolve 500g of sugar in 400ml of water and pour this over your flowers. Push them all under and weigh them down with a bit of parchment paper and another jar to keep them submerged.

Leave them overnight to infuse. The next day, strain the flowers and add the syrup to a pan. Bring to a gentle boil and add lemon juice to taste. You want to add a bit of sharpness to offset the sweetness.

Bottle and seal when still warm. It should keep in the fridge for a couple of months.

Use it in drinks or drizzle on pancakes and porridge and be sure to let us know if you try it!