Thirty years ago when first in Europe, my then Swiss mother-in law and Danish sister-in law introduced me to elderflower cordial. I’ve loved it ever since with this beautiful blossom a fixture in all of my gardens. At the moment however I’m a bit garden-less so an early morning walk quickly turned into an urban foraging session when these beauties appeared in a carpark. In Australia, the scent of the blossom is not as strong, which on advice from a knowledgeable friend due to the plant not producing berries as it does in Northern Europe.
In saying that, this batch did have some perfume along with the refreshing citrusy tang. Here’s the recipe [an adaption of a recipe by Jane Hornby]:
Ingredients
2 1/2 kg white sugar
1 1/2 litres water
2 lemons
30 fresh elderflower heads, stalks removed
85 g citric acid
Method
- Place the sugar and water in a large pot and bring to the boil. Stir often to dissolve the sugar.
- Peel the lemons with a vegetable peeler and then slice the lemons into thick slices.
- Add the lemon peel, lemons slices, elderflower heads and citric acid to the sugar syrup and stir to combine.
- Leave to cool and then cover the pot. Leave for 24 hours.
- Sterilize 3 x 1 litre glass bottles.
- Strain the cordial through a fine muslin cloth lined colander and then transfer into the bottles.
- Keeps refrigerated for up to 6 weeks or you can freeze into ice cubes and use as is.
