Recipe: Elderflower Cordial (Revised)

Elderflower by Me

I've made more elderflower cordial this year, and I have to say, I think it's a lot nicer than last years. It's sweeter and not quite as earthy tasting. Now this could simply just be because this years elderflower is sweeter and not quite as earthy tasting, but I'm putting it down to having changed the recipe.

Ingredients:

- 30+ heads of elderflower

- 50g citric acid

- 2 unwaxed lemons

- 2 unwaxed limes

- 1.8kg caster or granulated sugar

- 1.5l of water

Method:
- Place sugar into a large pan & cover with the water, bring to the boil and leave to cool.

- Shake out the elderflower to get rid of small bugs & beasties & remove as much of the green stalks as possible, placing the flowers into a colander, rinse & put into a large bowl

- Peel the skin from the lemons and limes and slice before placing into the bowl along with the elderflower.

- Pour the more or less cooled stock syrup over the flowers and the lemons. It doesn't need to be cold, but it shouldn't be boiling or it will scald the flowers and taste bitter.

- Add citric acid* & stir the mixture.

- Cover in cling film making sure that it makes contact with the surface of the mixture, thus removing most of the air around it.

- Leave to steep at room temperature for two days, stirring from time to time.

- Strain through a sieve to remove larger pieces of fruit and flowers, squeezing out as much of the liquid as possible. Then strain through coffee filters to remove the smaller particles. You could use a fine mesh sieve or sterilised muslin but I don't have any and coffee filters will do the job just as well and can go into the compost bin. It also means you get a really clear cordial.

- Pour into sterilised bottles. (To sterilise place clean, dry bottles into an oven set at 50C for 20 minutes, then turn off the over and leave the bottles until you're ready for them.)

- Dilute in sparkling water to taste.

To be honest, I didn't intentionally change the recipe. I kind of forgot to buy enough citric acid from the chemist (it comes in 50g packs), I increased the number of flower heads because some were crammed with flowers, some weren't so much and I am almost certain I put limes in last year, but forgot to write it down. Anyway, this revised list makes a cordial that is much more akin to the ones you can buy.

Almost certainly I'll end up changing it again next year!

Give it a go, but be quick, before the elderflower's gone over!

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Listening: Bon Iver - Blood Bank