Honeysuckle

The humble vine that grows in our hedgerows is used to make many delicious teas and syrups its beautiful flowers and numerous health benefits.

Lonicera Japonica is golden yellow with white petals and has been used in traditional medicine for centuries. Many gardeners find it naturally growing in their hedges as well as being an ornamental shrub.

As the rose arches bend heavily under the weight of the new blooms, walking through my mother's garden at this time of year fills my senses with the scent of roses. She also has a honeysuckle arch across her garden pathways that is draped with beautiful vines of Lonicera Japonica, or the Japanese Honeysuckle, that wraps itself across the arch and nearby bushes filled with yellow and white flowers that are highly scented.

It's best to leave plenty of flowers on the bush for the birds and insects. We only pick the flowers, but not the berries or leaves...just the flowers that can be plucked easily from their base off the vines without damaging the plant itself.

Therefore, my favorite use is honeysuckle tea, which can either be served hot or cold. I have included two different recipes below, one is for a quick brew made by soaking the flowers in boiling water, and the other is for a cold brew left to infuse overnight in a refrigerator that makes delicious iced tea.

So the most impressive uses for honeysuckle are:

• Improving digestion

• Aiding cold and flu symptoms

• Reducing inflammation

• Regulating blood sugars

• Apply a cold compress to boils to help pain and inflammation

• Aid bloating and constipation

• Tea can help with inflammation of the respiratory tract, easing congestion and coughs