Black Locust Flower Appetizers and Spreads

Black Locust Flower Butter

This is one of our favorite times of year because the stately black locust tree is in bloom.  As you drive up and down the highway in Vermont, you see these tall dark-wooded trees lining the road, all abloom with clusters of small white flowers.  The flowers themselves are wonderfully fragrant--smelling the way I imagine perfumeries try to make their potions smell. 

Yub Yub loves to eat the flowers, picking them one by one from their clusters like grapes.  We all love them in salads of every variety.  We do cook with them, but we are careful not to cook them to long and lose the texture and fragrance. 

This week I incorporated blossoms into several spreads, including...

• Locust Blossom Butter:  Mix locust blossoms into softened butter--preferably a high quality, lightly salted butter
• Honey Lavender Locust Blossom Butter:  Add honey and/or dried lavender blossoms to locust blossom butter
• Locust Blossom Cream Cheese:  Mix locust blossoms and honey/maple syrup into cream cheese
• Locus Blossom Goat Cheese: roll a fresh goat cheese log in locust blossoms until thoroughly coated

Black Locust trees only bloom for one to two weeks a year--usually the last week of May and first week of June.  Run out and gather some today!