I absolutely love Elderflower cordial, Elderflower pressé and in fact I’ve been known to enjoy a glass or two of homemade Elderflower wine – made by someone else in all cases. It’s always been an ‘intention’ to have a go and make my own but never got further than the planning stage.  Until today. Last night we walked around the locality and identified several healthy looking Elderflower bushes and so this morning – super early – I crept out with my basket and my secateurs and harvested 15 flowerheads (as per the recipe below) ready to embark on a new adventure – cordial making!  Stage one is now complete and I have to say it smells gorgeous.   Am busily drinking wine whilst writing this simply to ensure that I have bottles to put the completed cordial into. Is it wrong to be so excited!

Elderflower Cordial Recipe

Ingredients

• 1kg Granulated sugar
• 1 litre boiling water
• 50g citric acid or juice of 2 large lemons
• Zest of two large lemons
• 15 elderflower heads, stalks removed

Method

• Put the sugar in a bucket or basin with the boiling water and stir to dissolve. Add the citric acid or lemon juice and the lemon zest.
• Shake the elderflowers to remove any insects and add the flowers to the sugar syrup. Cover and leave to stand for 1-2 days, stirring morning and night.
• Strain the elderflower cordial through muslin and decant into sterilised bottles. It’s now ready to use.

Try to make this elderflower cordial within a couple of hours of picking for best results. Gather elderflower heads on a sunny, dry morning – their aroma fades by the afternoon.

To prevent fermenting once bottled it can be put in the fridge.  It can also be frozen.  Another method is to pasteurise the filled bottles.

Source – Country Living via Karen Cockerill.