Category: Beverage
Elderflower Cordial - TastyPlanner.com
Chef: Nimoloth
A cordial made from the flowers of the elder tree (sambucus nigra). Delicious with still or sparkling water, or for sorbet, or a sweet sauce for ice cream.
The elder flowers in June here in Scotland. I got some flowers from the tree on the railway embankment near our house – it was right in the middle of flowering, and it was hot and sunny and I got covered in yellow pollen! Nice smell though. Just cut off the flower umbels.
Ingredients
elder flower heads
sugar
juice of lemons OR citric acid
Instructions
For each pint of water, you need a pound of sugar and the juice of two lemons (or two teaspoons of citric acid) and about 8 elderflower heads. Bring the water and sugar to the boil until the sugar has melted. Then stir in the lemon juice / citric acid and elder flowers – I cut the little flowers off the stems to avoid excess bitterness, but I don’t know if it matters. If you use citric acid, it’s nice to add some lemon juice anyway for flavour. Cover all this and leave it to infuse for at least 24 hours.
After it’s infused for a while, you can strain it though some muslin to get rid of all the bits and dead bugs and so on! Put it into (preferably sterilised) bottles. It should keep for up to a few months in the fridge or you can freeze it indefinitely.
It should be diluted to about the same amount as diluting juice to drink (about 10 parts water to 1 part cordial). It’s just a flavoursome as shop bought cordial, although a little different in my experience – perhaps a little more savoury. It may also get more concentrated with time.
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