Elderflower cordial
The elderflower season is pretty short, and elderflower cordial is an easy recipe to allow you to savour the great elderflower aroma later in the year. If you are planning to keep this cordial for any length of time you will (a) need a lot of willpower, and (b) ensure that you add the Tartaric Acid.
Ingredients
- 20-30 Freshly picked Heads of Elderflower
- 3-5 Lemons, juiced
- Zest of 1 Orange
- Up to 1.5kg Granulated Sugar
- Tartaric Acid (optional, but required if you want the cordial to keep for more than a few weeks)
- Zest of 2 Lemons
Method
- Inspect the heads carefully and remove any insects (don’t wash them).
- Place flower heads and all zest in a large bowl and pour over enough boiling water to cover them completely (about 1.5 – 2 litres). Cover and leave overnight to infuse.
- Strain through a piece of muslin, measure the liquid, and pour into a saucepan.
- For every 500ml of liquid add 350g sugar, 50ml lemon juice and a heaped teaspoon of tartaric acid if you are using it
- Heat gently to dissolve sugar then simmer for a couple of minutes and skim off any scum.
- Let the cordial cool, then strain once again through muslin, cotton or a jelly bag.
- Pour cordial into sterilised bottles.
- The cordial will keep for several weeks (or longer if you’ve included tartaric acid). Pour into plastic bottles and freeze if you really want to make it last.
- To serve, dilute to taste with ice-cold water – at least 5:1 water to cordial.
