Foraged Elderflower Cordial Recipe
Bottle up the taste of a long hot summer
There's a small window each year, somewhere between late May and June, when the hedgerows are heavy with elderflower. Clouds of creamy white blossom, intensely scented, there for the taking. Miss it and you'll have to wait another year.
This cordial is one of the simplest things I make and one of the most rewarding.
A few hours of slow work yields enough to freeze and draw from all summer long. Add it to sparkling water on a hot afternoon, stir into cocktails, pour into ice lolly moulds for lazy summer afternoons in the garden. The taste of June, stretched out as far as it will go.
The most time-consuming part is gathering the fresh elderflower heads. I don't mind that at all.
For the cordial that tastes of summer, you'll need...
For the cordial:
20–30 elderflower heads
1kg golden caster sugar
2 litres of water
5 tablespoons of local honey
4 lemons
Equipment:
A large pan
A sieve or colander
Cheese cloth
Glass bottles - this recipe makes around 4 litres, and any extra freezes well in freezer bags or tupperware.
Simple, unhurried making. The hedgerow does most of the work.
1 | Gather
Take a basket and a pair of scissors out to the hedgerows and collect 20–30 elderflower heads.
2 | Make the syrup
Add the sugar, honey and water to a large pan and warm gently, stirring until both sugar and honey have fully dissolved.
3 | Add the lemon
Grate in the zest of all four lemons. Squeeze the juice of two into the pan, and slice the remaining two into rounds and add those as well.
4 | Add the elderflower heads
Add the elderflower heads and stir well so everything is submerged. Cover your pan and leave for 24 hours, I usually leave mine a little longer, you don’t have to be super-regimented with timings on this one.
5 | Sterilise your bottles
Wash your glass bottles thoroughly, place them in a cold oven and heat to just over 100°C for 10 minutes. Turn the oven off and leave the bottles to cool inside as the oven cools. And you have steralised bottles, voila!
6 | Strain
Set your colander or sieve over a large bowl and line it with muslin cloth. Pour the elderflower mixture through slowly, then gather the muslin and squeeze out every last, syrupy drop.
7 | Bottle
Pour into your sterilised bottles. Seal and store your cordial in the fridge and drink within a week.
Freeze what you won't use within the next few days in freezer bags or a freezer-friendly container.
How to use your elderflower cordial - 3 ways:
As a soft drink: 1 part cordial to 3 parts water, still or sparkling. Because this is a natural, unprocessed syrup it can settle at the bottom of the glass over time so, add a stirrer or a straw.
As a cocktail: Add a splash to a glass of champagne or cremant
As an ice lolly: Pour a 50:50 mix of cordial and water into Ice lolly moulds and freeze
There's something magical about making something from nothing, or near enough. Even better when it requires a walk, a basket and spending time in the elderflower blossom.
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