Wild Harvest: Maple Blossoms
The Big Leaf Maples (Acer Macrophyllum), the largest of all the maples, are natives of the pacific north west coastline where I live. They are a defining feature of the forest wilderness that my little cottage is surrounded by, and it is these giant beauties and their seasonal cycles that most clearly mark the passing of time for us in these wild and untamed lands. The comings and goings of these enormous stewards of the forest heralds the births and deaths of each season and each year: from the creamy , drooping tendrils of sweet blossoms in the spring; to the explosion of those large, wide, shade giving leaves, and finally to the orchestral bursting of fiery reds, goldens and coppery browns in the autumn, when the great trees curl up their great leaves and let them down in spreading carpets that cover the entire forest floor.
I love these protectors and sentinels in all their various guises and in all seasons. Their solid, curvarceous, moss and lichen covered girths and their wide-spreading umbrella of leaves and branches, always encircling, protecting, shielding. But, it is in their spring time costume of branches hanging heavy with sweet, fat catkins of blossoms that i commune with them the most.
As soon as I see the luscious clumps of blossoms start to stoop lower, and the forest horizon ablaze in a haze of buttery yellow, I know it’s time to start bringing these precious treats into the cottage kitchen.
The big leaf maple blossoms have a sweet, smokey, earthy flavour with a very satisfying crunch as you bite down into one right off the stem. I like to harvest them early on a damp spring morning, or after a spell of wet and rainy weather, as the extra moisture in the air plumps them up and adds to the freshness and crunchy texture.
Ways to use them:
The uses for maple leaf blossoms are really only limited by your imagination. I put them whole into salads, pull the blossoms off and sprinkle them on top of yogurts, cereal, whipped cream, buttercream topped cupcakes and any other deserts that can be elevated with a bit of spring time colour and earthy texture.
At Cottage Caneton, our favourite way to eat them are as blossom fritters, dipped in a sweet batter, shallow fried, and sprinkled with a dusting of icing sugar.
Basic fritters recipe:
5-6 whole big leaf maple blossoms, with stems attached
1 cup Flour
1/2 cup corn starch
1/2 cup sucanat/coconut sugar/light muscovado
300ml beer/cider/apple juice
150ml water
oil for shallow frying (I used refined organic coconut oil)
mix all the ingredients for the batter together in a bowl
dip each blossom, whole, into the batter till it’s fully coated in oil
shallow fry in oil on both sides until a deep golden brown
let drip on paper towels
top with either a drizzle of maple syrup or dusting of icing sugar
“I’ve never had a sweet-tooth, until you served me these... Thanks... ”
