Locust Blossom Special

Locust trees are rather incredible things. They are preferred fencepost material, for one, very resistant to rot. I think they split well and I have fantasies of split rail for the entrance to the farm, not that anything esthetic will ever happen. And they are beautiful trees too.

But perhaps their highest expression is their spring blossoms. Clustered on a stalk, white, drooping from the just leaved out tree, they smell divine. Sweet. Lighter, more citrus than roses. Again, sweet. What an experience it is to eat these things!

Many things are edible (including parts of a pine tree, thank you Euell Gibbons) and I think eating wild food rocks. Locust blossoms are one of those things that I always think deserves a place in the holier-than-thou overpriced star-ridden restaurants. When they are cooked, they still have that perfume-y smell that hits way up high in the sinuses. And since you fry them, they have that wonderful butter feel on the tongue. And the combination is sublime.

This year I made a sort of fritter, a blossom cake, out of them. You only get one or two messes a year of the things, so refining my technique on making them takes time.