The Blooms of the Honeysuckle

One morning last week as we walked out to the barn to milk the cows, a wonderful fragrance wafted into my nose.  A fragrance that anyone who grew up in the country instantly recognizes - honeysuckle.  Honeysuckle was brought to America from Asia and quickly spread.  It is a very hardy vining plant that blooms in pairs with white flowers that fade to creamy yellow as they age.  The long flutes of the flowers make it perfect for hummingbirds to suck the nectar.

Honeysuckle by the barn in the back

But hummingbirds aren't the only creatures that like to suck the sweet nectar of the honeysuckle.  There's nary a country boy or country girl who hasn't enjoyed the sweet smell and taste of this plant.

If only this was a scratch and sniff.

So I brought Benjamin out to the back and demonstrated the fine art of extracting honeysuckle nectar.  First you carefully pick a flower off the vine, and then gently pinch the green tip of the flower, but don't pinch all the way through the 'style' (remember that from biology?).  The style is a long threadlike part of the flower.

Now gently pull on the style while holding the flower between your fingers.  The end of the style has something called the 'stigma' that acts as a stopper.  As you pull the style through the fluted flower, the stopper catches the nectar and pulls it through the flower.

Once you've pulled it almost to the end, you'll see a droplet of sweet honeysuckle nectar that you can drink. Don't be shy, now...  You don't get much, but each drop is so sweet.

Sweet!

Relish the sweetness as you sit there and savor the fragrance and sweetness of wild honeysuckle that reminds you of the simplicity and innocence of country living.

Mmmmmm...  Let's pick some more!

Check with us tomorrow as we'll show you something we learned to do with honeysuckle.  Something that you may not have thought of.  We sure hadn't.