Renowned and adored New York-based chef Camilla Becerra creates a tart and sweet fermentation that captures this fleeting aroma, using the fresh flowers and their pale green bracts to preserve the fragrance. Camille muses, that perhaps the greatest gift of linden isn't only its flavour or its aroma, but that it teaches us to notice, for a few days each year, when the city welcomes summertime.
Ingredients
- Fresh linden blossoms with their pale green bracts
- Sugar
- Filtered water
Method
Pick linden blossoms from clean, untreated trees, choosing flowers with their attached bracts. Wash gently.
Weigh the blossoms. Weigh out an equal amount of sugar.
In a clean glass jar, alternate layers of blossoms and sugar, beginning with a layer of flowers and finishing with a layer of sugar. Press down gently as you go.
Cover and leave at room temperature for 1-2 weeks, allowing the sugar to slowly dissolve into a fragrant syrup and for the syrup to then become tart.
Afterwards, add filtered room-temperature water to cover. Stir well, refrigerate, and allow to infuse and meld for a few days.
Use throughout the summer with sparkling water, drizzled over sorbet or ice cream, or stirred into a cup of chamomile tea in evenings.
Lasts for six months if kept refrigerated.
