Just The Bill, Please: A Stockpile of Honeysuckle Sorbet

It’s May, and our odd through-the-looking-glass world continues. Nothing is how it ought to be. I, personally, am fine — but I have lots of friends in the restaurant world who are not. Everyone is of two minds about the wisdom of premature openings versus the possibility of endless unemployment. Many of my colleagues here in Chapelboro have come up with clever takeout menus and I try to support them whenever I can’t face another evening of beans and rice. It’s hard to cook for one (I’ll hold forth on that in a future column perhaps.) I had a very good soft-shelled crab po’ boy from Imbibe on Henderson Street the other night. The food of both Lime and Basil and Vimala’s Curryblossom Café translate into takeaway very well. I’ve gotten steaks from 411 West, ordering them a little rarer than usual, and then heating them up very successfully in my toaster oven of all things. Lots of places are having beer and wine lists fire sales.

Another manifestation of the times is the sudden profusion of cooking projects on social media. They have become almost inescapable. Some are live, some are recorded and others are still photos with captions. I, for some reason, have taken up odd old Southern cake recipes. You can catch my sporadic presentations on Facebook from time to time. I’m a terrible cameraman, but people seem to enjoy them anyway. Warning: It’s a bad idea to leave yourself alone with big cakes in your house.

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This year, it seems like half of the people that I know have decided to try their hand at Honeysuckle Sorbet and to document it online. This is a very big year for honeysuckle around here and it is also a little early. I think this is probably a good project to occupy children who are at home since many of the postings have included children with pails of flowers. I’ve kept up with this because I’m usually tagged in them. They’re showing up from all over the southeast. I started working on the recipe for honeysuckle sorbet about fifteen years ago when I was at Crook’s Corner. It took a few years of fine tuning — and then I had to remember to write down what I’d done — but it has now become a town favorite. Even though I’ve been retired for more than a year, I couldn’t ignore the bumper crop as I rode my bicycle around town (an excellent way to get exercise in isolation, by the way). So, I offered to pick the flowers and to make and freeze some batches of base for Crook’s to serve when they reopen. They can churn it up when they decide on when that will be. I loved doing this, now that I don’t have to. I still drink beer as I pick flowers along the bikeway in the late afternoon. Lots of people are out strolling or walking dogs, so I get to chat, from afar of course, as I work. Every day that I’m there, at least one old friend comes by. The prospect of having this familiar favorite return with spring is appealing to all, it seems. Hopefully this will be the one of many. There is still a lot of honeysuckle, so here is the recipe:

Honeysuckle Sorbet (Makes a quart and a half)

4 cups honeysuckle flowers, no stems or leaves. The little green thing on the bottom is ok.
5 1/3 cups cool water
1 1/3 cups water
2 cups sugar
A few drops of lemon juice and a speck of cinnamon

Let the flowers steep in the first amount of water overnight. Meanwhile, make a syrup with the second amount of water and the sugar. Let it boil for about three minutes and make sure the sugar has completely dissolved. Cool this syrup completely.

The next day, strain the flowers and combine their water with the syrup. Add the lemon juice and cinnamon. Churn. I’ve also heard recently that some people are making popsicles instead of sorbet, which should be an easy transition to make.

“Just The Bill, Please” is a regular column on Chapelboro.com penned by local culinary legend Bill Smith. Born and raised in New Bern, Bill Smith spent 25 years heading up the kitchen in Crook’s Corner — and over the years, he accumulated the accolades to match his incomparable takes on classic Southern food.

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Just The Bill, Please: A Stockpile of Honeysuckle Sorbet

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