Best Honeysuckle Recipes {+ Honeysuckle Uses & Benefits} (2024)

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Last Updated on May 15, 2023

Yes, you can eat the beautifully scented honeysuckle flower! Here are some delicious honeysuckle recipes to use this fragrant edible and medicinal flower this season. Here’s what to know about honeysuckle benefits and some amazing honeysuckle uses!

This is a guest post from a veteran forager and apprentice herbalist I’ve long admired, Michelle Van Doren of Seeking Joyful Simplicity. She has a fabulous honeysuckle recipe for you to add to your stock of foraged treats and homemade medicines. Be sure to check out her site for more great ideas for homemade, homegrown foods and herbal remedies!

The Humble HoneysuckleFlower

For me, the sweet aroma of honeysuckle flower marks the start of summer better than any date on a calendar. The tantalizing scent of honeysuckle brings a flood of memories of childhood summers, freedom from school, and endless days filled with swimming, biking, and reading. Wouldn’t it be lovely if we could bottle the aroma and flavor of honeysuckle flower? We can! This simple honeysuckle syrup recipe is a delightful treat that captures all that summer joy.

The scientific name forhoneysuckle isLonicera, and there are over 100 different species. Considered an invasive, the most common varieties in northern America are the Japanese honeysuckle and the trumpet honeysuckle. Both kinds of honeysuckle flowers are edible, though it is the Japanese variety that is usually used medicinally.

Note that the berries these plants produce are poisonous. Here’s what to know about poisonous vs edible honeysuckle berries. If you’re interested in edible honeysuckle berries (usually called haskap berry or honeyberry), you generally need to grow them yourself.

As with any foraged food, it’s important to correctly identify the plant before consuming. Be sure to use a good foraging book to ensurewhat you’re harvesting is safe to eat. Foraging expert Green Deane warns that some varieties of honeysuckle are toxic. Read more here.

If you’d like to become more expert in the art of foraging, the Herbal Academy has an online foraging coursethat teaches plant identification and ethical wildcrafting practices.

Honeysuckle Benefits and Honeysuckle Uses

Honeysuckle flowers and berries have traditional uses as remedies for bacterial and viral infections, and there are a number of studies looking at the benefits of honeysuckle for treating respiratory illnesses like bronchitis and influenza. Delicious and medicinal honeysuckle flowers are high in antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds.

Find more on medicinal uses for honeysuckle flower here.

Please note that one honeysuckle use in Chinese medicine is as a contraceptive, so best to avoid this if you’re trying to conceive.

Honeysuckle may also be an anticoagulant and should be avoided before surgery.

Honeysuckle Recipe: Honeysuckle Syrup

Part of the fun of making honeysuckle recipes is harvesting the honeysuckle flowers. Take your time and enjoy the beauty of foraging wild honeysuckle blossoms.Use caution when collecting wild plants and only collect from areas that aren’t treated with chemicals. This recipe calls for honeysuckle flowers only.

Honeysuckle Syrup Recipe

Yield: 1 cup

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

This simple honeysuckle syrup recipe captures the intoxicating scent of honeysuckle flowers in a deliciously sweet syrup.

Ingredients

1 cup sugar
1 cup water
About 50 honeysuckle flowers

Instructions

In a small saucepan, combine the sugar, water, and honeysuckle flowers.
Using medium to high heat, bring to a boil, stirring constantly.
Reduce heat and simmer for 3-4 minutes.
Remove from heat and allowto coolcompletely.
Strain out honeysuckle flowers and pour syrup into a jar.

Notes

Stores up to a month in the refrigerator.You can freeze syrup in an ice cube tray to prolong storage time.

How to Use Honeysuckle Syrup

My goodness, honeysuckle flower syrup makes desserts and drinks special!Here are some ideas for enjoying it:

Use honeysuckle flower syrup to sweeten summer iced tea
Make homemade lemonade sweetened with honeysuckle syrup
Add a few drops ofhoneysuckle syrup to sparkling water
As a sweetener for your favorite cake and muffin recipes
Enjoy as a topping for ice-cream, frozen yogurt, or sorbet
Pour a spoonful of honeysuckle syrup over a bowl of fresh fruit
Add honeysuckle syrup to unsweetened homemade yogurt
Freeze some of your honeysuckle syrup in ice cube trays, remove and store in freezer bags. This is a great way to preserve your blossom syrup for the winter months – then add to your favorite hot beverage in the winter. Or use it in one of the honeysuckle recipes below.

Other Delicious Honeysuckle Recipes

♦ You can make a naturally sweet honeysuckle tea by pouring boiling water over blossoms. 1/4 -1 cup blossoms covered with 1 cup water. Steep for several hours or overnight. Refrigerate for a refreshing ice tea.

♦ You can also make a glycerite for sore throats and colds. Learn how to make a honeysuckle glycerite from Homespun Seasonal Living.

♦ You can use your honeysuckle syrup to make honeysuckle sorbet.

♦ One clever cook has even created a honeysuckle ice cream recipe.

Other honeysuckle recipes include jelly, cordials, wine, and cakes. Pinteresthas some interesting honeysuckle recipes worth exploring if you find yourself with extra blossoms.

If you have a surplus of flowers, dehydrate some to enjoy when the honeysuckle season is over! Here are more than 150 additional flowers you can eat to try this season.

You can also buy dried honeysuckle here.

If you enjoy bringing flowers into your kitchen as food and medicine, you might also enjoy these ideas:

How to Use Roses as Food and Medicine

How to Use Wild Violets in Cooking and Home Remedies

Borage Plant ~ Benefits for Garden and Table

35+ Ways to Use Dandelions

How to Make Violet Syrup

Elderflower Benefits and Elderflower Recipes

About the author:Michelle Van Doren ispassionate aboutfood, herbal remedies,and helping others live their best life.She is a contributing writer for the Herbal Academy, a Registered Dietitian, and a lifelong student of herbal medicine. She believes with the right combination of simple foods, herbs, and living with intention, you can live a more joyful and satisfying life. Visit her at Seeking Joyful Simplicity.

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Disclaimer: Content on this website is intended for informational purposes only and is not meant to provide personalized medical advice. Please consult a licensed professional for personalized recommendations.

Honeysuckle recipes photo credits: DagnyWalter, byrev, YvonneHuijbens, annalovisa

Susannah

Susannah is a proud garden geek and energy nerd who loves healthy food and natural remedies. Her work has appeared in Mother Earth Living, Ensia, Northern Gardener, Sierra, and on numerous websites. Her first book, Everything Elderberry, released in September 2020 and has been a #1 new release in holistic medicine, naturopathy, herb gardening, and other categories. Find out more and grab your copy here.

Best Honeysuckle Recipes {+ Honeysuckle Uses & Benefits} (2024)

FAQs

What can I use honeysuckle for? ›

It contains essential oils as well as antioxidants such as quercetin. People use honeysuckle for indigestion, bacterial or viral infections, memory, diabetes, common cold, and many other conditions, but there is no good scientific evidence to support these uses.

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What are the benefits of eating honeysuckle? ›

The flowers and leaves have diuretic, antispasmodic, emetic, and laxative properties. The extracts are also used for digestive disorders including pain, inflammation of the small intestine, curing dysentery, upper respiratory tract infections, influenza, swine flu and pneumonia and diabetes.

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Which honeysuckle is medicinal? ›

Mainly regarded in traditional Chinese medicine, the Honeysuckle has long been used as a natural home remedy to treat inflammation, stomach upset, upper respiratory infections, fever and more. Japanese Honeysuckle in particular has been shown to offer numerous pharmacological benefits.

Can you eat honeysuckle flowers raw? ›

You can also use honeysuckle at the dinner table, as long as you are careful to get edible varieties. You can add flowers to salads or make them into jelly, for instance. Some types even have edible berries, but you need to be especially careful, as some honeysuckle berries are toxic.

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What are the side effects of honeysuckle? ›

Is honeysuckle safe? It can be safe for internal and external human use as long as you are using a non-poisonous variety/part of the plant. Symptoms of poisoning include stomach pain, diarrhea, irregular heartbeat and vomiting.

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What are the disadvantages of honeysuckle? ›

Invasive honeysuckle vines, which are non-native, can out-compete native plants for nutrients, air, sunlight and moisture. The vines can ramble over the ground and climb up ornamentals, small trees and shrubs, smothering them, cutting off their water supply or stopping free flow of sap in the process.

Keep Reading ›

What color honeysuckle can you eat? ›

Little hands could easily pinch the base of the flower's trumpet and squeeze out the small, tasty tidbit onto the tongue. As adults, we can enjoy honeysuckle in more than one way. Honeysuckle's edible white and yellow blooms can be found growing robustly in the Northeast from now through August.

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What part of honeysuckle is used for tea? ›

To make honeysuckle tea, collect open honeysuckle flowers, plucking them at the base, so the nectar is retained. Place a handful of flowers in a large mason jar. Bring 4 cups of water to a boil, then remove from heat and wait for 2 minutes.

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What is the difference between honeysuckle vine and honeysuckle bush? ›

Another species of invasive honeysuckle, Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica), can easily be differentiated from bush honeysuckle because Japanese honeysuckle grows as a vine whereas bush honeysuckles are woody shrubs.

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Can you make anything out of honeysuckles? ›

honeysuckle flowers also make a great tea and a nice fermented fizzy beverage. like the lilac one i made not too long ago! and if you're in an area where honeysuckle is invasive, like i am. the more flowers you eat. now, the fewer berries get spread around and turned into other plants!

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What to do with honeysuckle cuttings? ›

Dip the cut end in a rooting hormone to promote rooting and discourage rot. Place treated cuttings in moist sand, vermiculite or perlite in a shaded location to root. Once rooted, plant in a container filled with a well-drained potting mix.

Is it OK to eat honeysuckle? ›

While Honeysuckle blooms are safe for humans, the berries are not safe to consume. No part of the plant is safe for pets, including cats and dogs. Always check with your doctor or veterinarian for guidance if you suspect Honeysuckle poisoning.

Are honeysuckle flowers edible? ›

Honeysuckle flowers' sweetness makes them a natural for garnishing desserts (especially less sweet ones, so the flowers don't take things over the top). Their snap-pea-esque flavor also makes them an excellent choice for garnishing vegetable dishes or tossing in salads.

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Does honeysuckle keep bugs away? ›

The delicate scent of honeysuckle in the air is a pleasing sign of summer's approach. However, this perennial flowering vine also packs a powerful punch when it comes to knocking out the larvae of mosquitoes, including Aedes aegypti, the species that spreads yellow fever.

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Is honeysuckle good for your yard? ›

Coral honeysuckle flowers are visited by a variety of nectar-feeders such as butterflies, moths and bees. It is a favorite nectar source of ruby-throated hummingbirds. Since it begins blooming in early spring, a time when nectar is scarce, it provides these backyard favorites with food when nectar is often scarce.

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