Elderflower

 

 

This morning, feeling truly summery, me and Dad set off up the lanes behind our house to go foraging. Our goal? Elderflower. This versatile flower is perfect for use in desserts and our personal favourite, drink. Dad is famed for his elderflower cordial and champagne and today we wanted to make some cordial.


Pre fake tan!
 

 

To make the cordial you will need to collect 20-30 elderflower heads. This can be a treacherous task as I learned when I waltzed straight through a patch of stinging nettles!

 

Once you have removed the insects from your elderflower heads you need to add the zest of two lemons and one orange (keep your zested lemons back, you'll need those later). Whilst you're doing this put the kettle on to boil.

You need to pour in enough boiling water to cover your elderflower, this should be roughly 1.5-2 litres.
Cover the bowl and leave overnight or until completely cool. We left ours for about 4 hours.

 

Once cool, strain the liquid through a muslin cloth. You then need to measure how much liquid you have to work out how much sugar you need to use.

The part that will make your dentist wince!

 

 

For every 500ml of liquid you need to add 350g of sugar, you may have guessed that once finished this cordial is very sweet and sticky!

I told you they'd come in handy!

 

For every 500ml of liquid you will also need to add 50ml of lemon juice and a heaped teaspoon of tartaric acid. The tartaric acid helps to preserve your elderflower cordial and with it your cordial can last for up to a year (if you can resist drinking it all in one go that is!).

 



Heat the mixture gently to dissolve the sugar. Give it a stir so it doesn't all settle and stick to the bottom of your pan. Bring the liquid to a gentle simmer and skim off any scum that gathers on top.
Leave it to cool and then strain again through your muslin cloth.

 



Using a funnel, pour your cordial into sterilised bottles and seal them. Now your cordial is good to use in cocktails, or just as a summery, refreshing alternative to squash.

Cheers!