Elderflower Time
20 heads of elderflower ready for cordial making
June. Right now in England we are getting a sweet taste of summer in the form of strawberries, gooseberries and the short-lived elderflower, whether the sun shines or not. Cream-coloured clusters of elderflower are popping out all over the place in London, and not only in the green spaces - I’ve seen the blossoms dripping over bus stops and brick walls right, left and centre. In fact, you could probably just follow your nose to find the nearest one. Or spot the distinctive tiny white petals that have fallen on the pavement -though this could be a sign that the flowers on the bush are past it.
Be warned, however, that tempting as it is to bring home a lovely big posy of elderflowers, they fill the house with a strong aroma, which quickly begins to smell overwhelmingly like cat pee, especially if they are a bit past their prime. Try to collect them just-bloomed but still perfumed, snipping them off with scissors so as not to jostle the fragrant pollen, and use in your recipe immediately.
Here’s a recipe for the Elderflower Cordial I made this weekend.
The cordial, freshly made and ready for the 5-day wait
ELDERFLOWER CORDIAL
20 heads of elderflower (or a few more if small)
2 large unwaxed lemons, sliced
1.5 litres water
65g citric acid powder (available at pharmacies)
1.75kg caster sugar
Inspect the elderflower heads and brush off any insects. Place in a large ceramic bowl with the lemons. Measure the water into a saucepan and place over a high heat to bring to the boil. Put the citric acid and sugar in a separate large saucepan, ladle in some of the measured water, and heat gently to dissolve, stirring frequently. Pour the boiling water over the elderflowers and lemons. Add the sugar and citric acid solution and give it a gentle stir.
Cool completely, stir again, cover and leave in a cool place for 5 days, stirring well morning and night. Strain through a fine gauze or muslin (a nylon stocking works well! See tip below) into clean dry plastic bottles (a good way to recycle small plastic milk bottles or water bottles), seal and store in a cool, dark place or in the freezer, where it will keep indefinitely. Once opened, keep in the fridge. Makes just over two litres.
To serve, dilute with still or sparkling water. Excellent in cocktails or dribbled over vanilla ice cream.
STRAINING TIP: Strain the big stuff through a fine-ish sieve into a large jug. Stretch a nylon stocking (I keep a pack of unused knee-highs in the kitchen - they’re handy) over a funnel so it’s tight around the edges but a little loose in the middle. Place the funnel over a smaller jug. Pour the sieve-strained cordial through the stocking for crystal-clear and bug-free cordial, then pour carefully into five empty 500ml water bottles, leaving a little room at the top for freezer expansion. Screw on caps and freeze.
MORE ELDERFLOWER STUFF
Elderflower cordial is my annual stand-by, but it doesn’t stop there - you can make an exquisite “champagne”, ice cream, fritters, jam, tea, vinegar…the most comprehensive guide I’ve got for using elderflowers, and all types of wild foraged foods, is the book “Edible Wild Plants and Herbs: A Compendium of Recipes and Remedies” by Pamela Michael, published by Grub Street in 2007, as an updated version of the 1980 classic “All Good Things Around Us”. I’m also loving the colossal tome “The Wild Vegetarian Cookbook: A Forager’s Culinary Guide” by “Wildman” Steve Brill (Harvard Common Press, 2002).
Tags: cookery, elderflowers, foraging, Recipe
June 9th, 2009 at 7:39 am
Thanks for the recipe. It does look easy. I noticed a huge number of elderflowers out in bloom at the bottom of my allotment. If this rain ever stops, I’ll get down there and pick some and give this a try.
June 9th, 2009 at 4:29 pm
Loving the elderflowers! About a week ago I bottled my first lot of elderflower champagne, fingers crossed it will turn out great.
Thanks for recommending ‘The Wild Vegetarian Cookbook’. I will have to look into that as I am becoming more and more interested in free wild food you can forage for.
June 9th, 2009 at 9:47 pm
I had real difficulty getting the citric acid powder last year, a lot of pharmacies didnt stock it and when I asked one why he said that it was because it is popular with drug dealers for mixing with their drugs! Any suggestions of places to get it would be appreciated.
June 9th, 2009 at 10:19 pm
Oh dear Lindsey, this could be a problem. I got mine at my local independent chemist and I live in Tottenham, which isn’t exactly Belgravia!
I would suggest a small independent chemist rather than a chain like Boots or Superdrug. If not, try an Indian / Asian supermarket - I am sure I’ve seen it in with the spices before (probably cheaper too). Or a shop that sells wine-making equipment, which is a little more obscure.
After a little internet browsing, I found that some people recommend the juice of 1 lemon for every teaspoon of citric acid…so that would be 65 divided by 5 = 13 lemons! That seems like a lot, but the cordial does have a very sharp taste and I’m sure that goes some way towards its excellent keeping properties too. And when you see how much sugar goes into it, it makes sense! Trust me - I’ve done this recipe a few times and it is DELISH! (It came from my mum-in-law who’s been making it for decades.)
Hope you find the c.a. - if not, let me know how you get on with the lemons.
Warm regards
Celia
June 10th, 2009 at 8:34 am
65 teaspoons of Citric acid is well over 65gms;. check your arithmetic again . I would use 2 good sized lemons.
June 10th, 2009 at 9:05 am
Hi Bill
I didn’t mean 65 tsp - I was referring to 65g - let me explain.
If 1 tsp citric acid = 1 lemon, and 1 tsp = 5g, then:
65g divided by 5 = 13 tsp which equals 13 lemons.
But I can’t verify the accuracy of 1 tsp citric acid being equal to 1 lemon, and anyway, how much juice you get out of a lemon varies!
All best
Celia
June 10th, 2009 at 10:05 am
Citric acid - always available at an Asian grocer as Celia recommends. Also good for descaling kettles
June 11th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
love your site and way of explaining things thanks for sharing Rebecca
June 11th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
We already have some elderflower champagne in it’s 7 day process, it smells divine. As soon as the sun comes out I am going to go out and pick more eldeflowers to make this cordial too as I think it is less likely to cause the exploding bottles I hear about with the champagne recipe! We all love elderflower cordial and presse in our family, but they are so expensive. This seems like the perfect way to use a plentiful resource. Many thanks for sharing.
June 11th, 2009 at 6:40 pm
How embarrassing, I didn’t realise that’s what elderflower looked like! I’ve been wanting to make my own cordial but had no idea where to get elderflower; now ‘m pretty sure I can just pick some near my house.
June 11th, 2009 at 8:14 pm
I for a number of years have used my mothers recipie, which I believe was handed down by her mother.
As follows:-
One and half a pound of sugar, one lemon take zest off and squeeze lemon, two tablespoons of white wine vinegar, two heads only of elderflower in full bloom, a gallon of water.
Put all together and leave for 24 hours. strain through muslin into bottels with secure tops………….
It can be drunk after about a month………but try leaving it for up to a year or more…………it becomes dryer and dryer……be careful opening…v fizzy
June 12th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
Why do you need the citric acid powder? I see that ingredient in every recipe for elderflower cordial, even the ones that require heating up the finished cordial and bottling it hot. So it can’t be conserving. Any ideas?
June 13th, 2009 at 3:20 pm
[...] We have just bottled up 10 litres of Elderflower Champagne and are waiting nervously for it to mature, or explode, whichever comes first. It certainly smells the part and was not really any trouble to make. We are planning to head off into the field shortly to get some more elderflowers to make cordial too from a recipe in Celia’s Blog. [...]
June 15th, 2009 at 10:33 am
[...] got to make hay while the sun shines. I made some Elderflower Cordial yesterday from the recipe in Celia’s blog and today it looks less appetising but already tastes and smells [...]
June 22nd, 2009 at 12:40 pm
Me again! I made the 2 batches of cordial (which is very nice and my son loves it too) and froze about 2/3rds of it in plastic drink bottles. What is wierd is that it is still almost liquid in the freezer. Is this normal? Is it the sugar content that keeps it from going solid and will it still last ok?
June 24th, 2009 at 7:43 pm
Hi Celia
It’s been a glorious sunny day and my Mum, Fiance and I have been out picking the Elderflower. We have been busy this evening in the kitchen following your cordial recipe, as we will be serving this to our wedding guests with soda water for the welcome drinks. Thank you for your recipe, we have had great fun doing this and found your instructions so clear and easy to follow.
June 25th, 2009 at 11:24 am
Claire, this hasn’t happened to me before with the cordial. You might try putting it in the coldest part of the freezer and see if that works. I think, however, that it will still be fine, as storing it in a cool dark place is the old fashioned storage method. C
September 30th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
hi enjoyed reading your comments does anyone know why our elderflower wine has turned realy dark its been stored for 2 months now
October 6th, 2009 at 9:09 am
[...] The broad beans had also done a good job of producing a new supply that have now been turned into Celia’s new roasted garlic and broad bean hummus [...]