Honeysuckle Lemonade for Cook the Books April/May Pick: "Honeysuckle Season"

For once, I actually finished our selection for Cook the Books (our bi-monthly virtual foodie book club) a couple of weeks before the deadline. It just took me some time to decide what to make and then to order in some dried honeysuckle tea to make a simple syrup for a summery Honeysuckle Lemonade. But, before we get to the lemonade and syrup, let's talk about the book.

Honeysuckle Season by Mary Ellen Taylor is this round's book pick, selected and hosted by Debra of Eliot's Eats. (You can see her announcement post here.) It's a great book for the spring into summer months and what I always think of as "fresh start" books, where the main character picks up and moves somewhere (often back home) to start a new chapter in their lives. In Honeysuckle Season, it's Libby who is dealing with miscarriages, a divorce, and her father's recent death, and has come back to her home town to restart a career as a wedding photographer. An important gig shooting a wedding has her connecting with the venue owner, Elaine Grant, who hires Libby to document the restoration of the greenhouse and grounds of Woodmont Estate. There's lots of secrets, both in the estate's history and in Libby's life, and a dual timeline of WWII and present day. The story is told primarily from the perspective of Libby and two characters from the past Sadie (a local girl and daughter of a moonshiner barely, whose family barely scrapes by) and Olivia (the new young British wife of a wealthy local physician). 

Overall, I enjoyed the book and the characters. Although it was a bit predictable in terms of the story, it was a good journey to get there and untwist all the secrets it the characters' lives. I would have liked to read more about Libby's best friend, Sierra and the cafe and sandwich shop she is opening with Libby's support, but hopefully that will be a follow up book some day. ;-)  

There was plenty of food in Honeysuckle Season. Mentions included coffee, scrambled eggs, strawberries, wedding cake, hibiscus tea, biscuits stuffed with Virginia ham, herbs, tomatoes, cucumbers, string beans, chardonnay, freshly baked bread, cookies, roasted chicken, pasta noodles, potatoes, salad, iced tea with sliced lemons, cheese and crackers, hummingbird cake, roast turkey, lemon cake, oat cereal and milk, bananas, cinnamon and apples, cinnamon rolls, ginger ale, mint chocolate ice cream, potato salad, corn on the cob, carrots, sans peas, squash, lavender, flour, sugar, and lard, hamburgers, bacon and coffee, vodka, bourbon, wine, sandwiches, barbecue and beer, pepperoni and cheese pizza, Diet Coke, fried chicken with corn bread, cupcakes, lemonade, beans, peanut-butter-and jelly sandwiches, and Popsicles.

For my bookish dish, I decided to combine the lemonade mentioned in the book with the honeysuckle syrup used in the moonshine. Since honeysuckle flowers are not easy to come by here, I ordered some dried honeysuckle flowers from Amazon.  There's a recipe for the syrup in the book but I kind of did my own thing in terms of proportions. I also made a very tart lemonade to mix with the syrup--just so it wasn't over-sweet.

Honeysuckle Syrup

By Deb, Kahakai Kitchen with Inspiration from Honeysuckle Season by Mary Ellen Taylor

(Makes About 1 1/2 Cups)

1 1/2 cups water

1/2 cup dried honeysuckle blossoms

1 cup sugar

Bring the water to a boil in a small saucepan. Remove pan from heat and add the dried honeysuckle blossoms. Steep about 10 minutes then strain out the blossoms. Return pan with honeysuckle tea to stove over medium heat. Add sugar and stir until it is completely dissolved. Reduce heat to simmer and cook about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool 1 hour, then place in a glass jar in the refrigerator and chill overnight.

Tart Lemonade for Mixing

By Deb, Kahakai Kitchen

(Makes about 6 Cups)

2 cups fresh lemon juice (about 10-12 lemons), strained
4 cups water
1/2 cup sugar, or to taste

1. 1. Pour the strained lemon juice into a large container. Add water and sugar, then stir until the sugar dissolves. Chill at least 2 hours in refrigerator.

To make Honeysuckle Lemonade: Fill tall glasses with ice. Mix Honeysuckle Syrup and Tart Lemonade to taste. (I used 1/3 syrup to 2/3 lemonade). Garnish with lemon slices and enjoy. 

Notes/Results: I am not normally a huge fan of floral flavors but I liked this much more than I thought I would. It tastes like I imagine a Southern summer day would--sweet, tart, flowery. You can of course adjust it to be sweeter, less sweet, more honeysuckle, etc. I will happily make it again. 

I'm sharing this post with the Weekend Cooking event  being hosted by Marg at The Adventures of An Intrepid Reader. It's a weekly event that is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share. Here's a link to this week's post. 

The deadline for this round is today and Debra will be rounding up the entries for Cook the Books on the website in a day or two. If you missed this round and you like books and food and foodie books, join us for our June/July pick 97 Orchard: An Edible History of Five Immigrant Families in One New York Tenement by Jane Ziegelman, hosted by Simona of briciole.