Calendula and corn: partners in summer and sunshine. Perhaps it is the yellow color, perhaps the seasonal abundance. Finding balance of their flavors took some time though. Beautiful and fragrant, calendula flower petals also taste of bitter almost burnt flavored. I kept trying to cover this up, powdering them, adding sweet balance, and altering baking recipes, but it was always there and the corn muffins just tasted wrong. Then I tested a honey calendula syrup and finally, deliciousness.
Corn is also a fabric of herbal medicine; the part utilized the golden silk. Like calendula, it soothes inflammation and irritation, but has affinity for the urinary tract instead of skin or digestion. These muffins though are made with corn meal and so have nothing to do with that. Still, corn is considered sacred to most Native American cultures. The stories that I know involve the First Woman, mother of the people who laid down on the ground so that corn could grow from her body and feed all of her children. The genetically modified corn of today, used to make food additives like corn syrup and cornstarch seems a far cry from this beautiful belief. We must take back the purity of nourishment by using organic corn whenever possible. I sometimes have trouble finding organic products in my smaller town stores, but virtually, anything is possible. Sources like Thrive Market offer easy access and even Amazon, which is where I bought the organic gluten free corn meal baked in these muffins.
Because some ingredients may be hard to find, links are provided to make buying easier. I may earn a small commission for some of the product links in this recipe. Your purchase will lend support to this website at no further cost to you. Big love and thanks for that.
- Calendula honey syrup
- 3-4 TBS dried calendula petals (for me this weighed 5 grams)
- 1 ½ cups boiling water
- ½ cup organic honey
- Muffins
- 1 ½ cups organic yellow cornmeal not stone ground
- 1 cup organic oat flour
- ½ cup organic granulated sugar
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 cup calendula honey syrup
- 4 TBS organic unsalted butter melt, cool to room temperature, & stir
- Combine calendula petals and hot water in glass jar or French coffee press. Infuse for 1 hour.
- Strain and measure 6 oz of infused calendula tea, reserving remaining liquid. Place in small saucepan and bring to gentle simmer over medium low heat.
- Cover with lid slightly ajar, reduce heat to low and simmer for approximately 15 minutes until reduced to approximately ½ cup of concentrated tea. Cool for 10 minutes.
- Using glass measuring cup, measure ½ cup honey, pour in warm calendula tea to measure 1 cup and mix to dissolve honey in tea. It is ok to add some of reserved tea if there is not enough of the concentrated tea. Cool to room temperature prior to adding to muffins. Syrup can be made 1-2 days ahead of time and kept in the refrigerator until ready to bake muffins.
- Preheat oven to 350 °F. Arrange 18 foil-lined muffin liners on large cookie sheet. Prepare calendula honey and cool to room temperature.
- Sift cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into large mixing bowl.
- In medium sized bowl, lightly whisk eggs. Add calendula honey syrup, buttermilk, and melted, cooled butter. Whisk until combined.
- Pour into dry ingredients and mix gently with wooden spoon just to moisten and combine. With a 1/3 cup measure, fill muffin liners with batter.
- Bake for 30 minutes.
Using organic ingredients in your baked goods makes them all the more nourishing. For these muffins, use organic butter, sugar, flour, cornmeal, eggs and honey if available.
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