Divine Floral Vine of Summertime: Honeysuckle

I love the sweet smell of honeysuckle that floods the air this time of year. It's so calming and uplifting to wake up and have my first conscious breath be of honeysuckle hanging on the breeze. The days here in southern Illinois are slowly turning hot and humid, and as summer hems in, that scent of cooling honeysuckle flowers is a reminder of their powerful medicine.

Known as Jin Yin Hua in Chinese medicine, honeysuckle is an energetically cooling herb traditionally used to soothe acute, inflammatory (heat) conditions such as boils and carbuncles on the skin, urinary tract infections, respiratory infections with yellow phlegm, to name a few.

It has potential for use in numerous types of culinary and medicinal recipes. I love blurring the lines between food and medicine...

Honeysuckle infused tequila:
Cover opened flowers with 100% agave tequila in covered glass jar. Let infuse at least two weeks, then strain. Makes an excellent sipping tequila or as a base to summer cocktails.
This is one of my absolute favorite concoctions I've ever made. The taste of this infusion really comprises the definition of synergy for me, as the combination of honeysuckle and tequila truly transforms into something completely beautiful and entirely different from the two ingredients alone.

Honeysuckle tincture:
Unopened flower buds
Vodka or other grain alcohol
Glass Jar w/ lid
Harvest unopened flower buds and place in glass jar. Pour vodka over flowers, cover, and let steep at least one month, shaking jar each day. Strain, then store in glass jar out of sunlight.

Honeysuckle infused oil

Honeysuckle Rose Jelly
(Note that in no way by including this link I am endorsing Biblical womanhood, I just think this recipe looks fabulous)

Honeysuckle throat and cough syrup

Honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica) grows throughout much of the U.S. as an invasive, climbing weed. When wild-harvesting it, be sure to avoid road-side vines. Note that the berries are not edible and neither are some of the other species; be sure you have Lonicera japonica. Typically with ecologically minded wild harvesting, one would only take 10% of the colony or so. Due to its incredibly invasive and voracious presence here in the U.S., honeysuckle can be harvested greedily, and in doing so will hopefully one day help control its grip on the native ecosystem. For more observations on the medicinal, ecological potential for harvesting invasive plants in the U.S. see my post here.