My bonny yew tree, tell me what did you see ?

[venta]

Briefly ignoring any hayfever issues, for the moment...

Anyone who waxes lyrical about the scent of blossom in the spring air is not standing near a hawthorn tree. Fact.

Comments

[serpentstar.livejournal.com]

I don't hate that scent, and I quite like the taste of haws!

[venta.livejournal.com]

Really ? Hawthorn always smells distresslingly lavatorial to me.

Not sure I've ever wittingly eaten haws, though. Do they taste like the flowers smell ?

[serpentstar.livejournal.com]

No -- they are quite odd-tasting, and have a hard centre that needs to be spat out, but they don't particularly taste like the flowers smell.

They're a traditional heart tonic (and one that has some clinical research to back that up), so I don't usually eat more than a handful in one day.

You can eat the leaves, too -- those are a lot tastier (though you probably want to steam them lightly if you pick them any time of year other than spring, as they get quite bitter).

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Mm, hawthorn leaves when just out of the bud are rather nice. But, like venta, I find the blossom smells strongly of wee. Maybe it's one of those genetic things, like the effect of asparagus.

[venta.livejournal.com]

I only recently found out about the asparagus thing (thank you, QI, where would we be without you) - I'd always assumed it was a ridiculous old wives tale because asparagus has no noticeable effect on me.

At least, it's not noticeable to me, and I've never tried inviting anyone else in for a sniff!

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Just think how many other interesting smells you might be obliviously emitting!

[lnr]

I quite like it, though I know what you mean about lavatorial. It's definitely distinctive, and I think that's what I like about it. Cherries and apples are definitely rather more conventionally palatable.

I'd not realised until yesterday though that, at least in hot sunshine, gorse has the most amazingly sweet scent somewhere between vanilla and coconut.