Thanks, Allie.

Yesterday, my daughter Allison sent me a little blurb that she saw somewhere online about making pohutukawa syrup. Since the pohutukawa is called New Zealand's Christmas Tree, it is fitting that I should try to make a holiday drink from it. And as always, I'm on the lookout to try some new or exotic comestible.  

I headed for the nearest tree about 8 a.m. this morning. (12/22/23)  It's behind our local Pak'nSave supermarket, so I combined a bit of shopping with the harvesting.  

I purchased fresh garlic, parmesan cheese, and pine nuts for Jeanne's Holiday pesto project, and gathered 50 blossoms, full of the red stamens for my syrup. 

It's a very dreary-looking day, so the colors of the tree are not as nice as they could be, but this is my syrup tree.  

Here are some of them, ready for processing. 

Gorgeous, aren't they? The stamens feel similar to a pine needle, but are not pointed. Nor, in case you're tempted to ask, are they related to pines.  

It takes a while to pull all those stamens out, but less time if you snip them with a scissors. I used both methods doing my two batches. 

It's extremely easy to make this syrup.  Basically, you make pohutukawa stamen tea in a sugar solution.  Here is a bowl of it now, steeping.  I will strain it tomorrow and adjust the sugar content.  

I made a somewhat larger second batch and poured them together to brew. 

Jeanne suggested that I not make this into a  heavy, pancake-type syrup, but leave it much lighter and use it as a drink-mixing syrup instead.  We'll mix it with club soda and plenty of ice.  Today, two days before Christmas, the temperature is supposed to hit about 80 degrees F., and a tall, cool glass of this will be welcome this afternoon, as we watch our world go by from the balcony.  

So, a logical question would be, "What does it taste like."  

It tastes like the blossoms smell.  

I know that is no help whatsoever.  I'd have to say that it reminds me of a rose-flavored, or Hawthorne-flavored candy.  Neither of those are related to this tree however.  A pohutukawa is a member of the myrtle family and therefore related to a clove tree, but neither Jeanne nor I could find a clove-like flavor in it.  It is what it is.  I'll have to leave it at that.  

Dianne, we could make some next year for you and Kathie.  And if you aren't here at the right time of year, I could freeze the stamens. I'll bet it would still work. I think that almost anyone would like this taste, although it is different than anything else that I've ever tasted.   

This is one of three bottles that I filled with the finished syrup.  

  

Well, that's it for this edition of of my blog.  I hope that you've enjoyed it. Later         -djf

Update:  It's afternoon now and I thought I had finished this post. However, Jeanne and I have just enjoyed our first pohu, or should I call it kawa soda?  It's very good. I put some ice in an old-fashioned glass, added 50 ml. of syrup and then filled the glass with club soda. Terrific. The really interesting part is that Jeanne decided that one of the flavors was that of muskmelon. I think she's right.  -d