Elderflowers

[dtalbot]

Plenty around at the moment so here are my fave 2 recipies for elderflower

Cordial
12 Elderflower heads
2lb Sugar
750ml boiling water
35g citric acid
zest of a lemon

Cut the flowers off the stalks (a bit of stalk dosn't matter just get rid of most of it)
Mix the whole lot up in a big jug, stir till the sugar has dissolved.
Leave for 48 hours
Bottle
Dilute to taste, it is strong so you don't need much

Champaign
2 heads of elderflower picked when dry (because you need the wild yeast on the flowers)
Zest and juice of one lemon
1 1/2 lb sugar
2 tblsp white wine vinegar
1 gallon cold water
Stick the whole lot in a bucket and give a good stir.
Cover and stand somewhere warm for 2 weeks
Bottle into strong pop bottles.

A batch of both took me about 10 minutes to do tonight, dead easy and dead tastey!

 

[Roving Rich]

Ive missed em again. They've been and gone down here.
Maybe next year.

Rich

 

[Justin Time]

I'm still drinking elderflower cordial... made 4 litres of the stuff from a carrier bag full of flowers... tastes like Lychees.
loads more in my freezer so I'll be able to taste it through the year. even used some to add flavour to a gooseberry fool, Nice!

 

[Jumbalaya]

If you can still find elderflower buds which have not opened - and are still in their green state - these can be soaked in strong salted water for 24hrs and then pickle in hot pickling vinegar. The small buds are used where capers might be used. I worked out a rather novel 'rabbit & gunshot sauce', the gunshots being the elder buds. Unlike stripping elderberries off the stems, flower buds are best acquired by rubbing flowerheads between your fingers and collecting materiel on a newspaper.

 

[Biddlesby]

I managed to get some elderflower fritters on the go this year. Dip the whole flowers (plus some stalk to hold onto) in some batter then deep fry. Pour over some (maple) syrup

Ok, so it's not particularly natural nor healthy. But it tastes nice .