Elderflower Cordial Making

Homemade Elderflower Drink

Spring is a lovely time of year and one of the first tasks of this season is the making the elderflower cordial. The ingredients are few, the elderflower is plentiful (and free) and the resultant drink is a taste of heaven. It is a fact that your own elderflower cordial will be much better than anything you buy at the store.

Elderflower concentrate

Elderflower recipe

Whilst there are few ingredients, care must be taken because one of them is an acid. The full ingredients are:

• Elderflower heads
• Water
• Sugar
• Lemons
• Citric Acid

The ratio between the ingredients will alter the taste and some experimentation may be necessary. The elderflower concentration might produce a nice elderflower tea or even nicer elderflower champagne for those who are used to more punchy drinks.

Elderflower ratio

The ratio of the water to sugar for the cordial is 2:3. More simply put, use 2 pints of water to 3 pounds of sugar. The flower head needed will be about 25 or so. About 3 ounces of the citric acid is recommended for this mix. For making bigger drink batches just factor up all the ingredients.

In springtime the elder trees (Sambucus) will sprout forth a white bloom on the stems. It is rather like an umbrella and these flowers should be gathered. Picking elderflower heads is best done in sunshine and you might need a steps or a ladder to access them. Only the cleanest pure flowers should be gathered for best results.

Early and late batches

Later on they can be gathered again and using the exact same recipe and ingredients you will discover that the taste has changed, as the older flowers are stronger tasting. With experience you will discover the best time to gather elderflower or perhaps you will also make two or more batches as the season progress. Unfortunately the window of opportunity is small for gathering elderflower so you do need to keep an eye on the growth pattern of the elder trees.

The most common of the elderflower drinks is the cordial but it is just as easy to make elderflower cocktails, martinis or champagne. Once you have gathered the flowers you need to wash and lightly dry them before cutting away the hard stems. The flower tips are all that are used in the formulation of the drink

Pour boiling water (over the sugar) into a large bowl or container. Agitate by stirring to dissolve the sugar and leave to cool. When the liquid is cold enough add the citric acid, beautiful fresh lemon zest (some people use the whole lemons sliced into the mix) and the elder flowers. Let the whole lot to infuse overnight (or longer if possible) in a cool area. The elderflower cordial drink will have to be strained through a piece of muslin cloth before it is transferred into sterilized bottles or storage jars.

The mixture will be strong and it is necessary to dilute it before drinking. It works well if poured into a nice stoneware jug and diluted with sparkling water to make a refreshing drink at mealtimes. If you fancy a special cocktail just add the cordial to a sparkling wine. Elderflower is very versatile and can be added to numerous foodstuffs, even cakes.

Elderflower cake

If you have a good stock of cordial it is just a small step further to make elderflower cake. Once you have made your Madeira, or other sponge like cake, and baked it, remove it from the oven and drench it, while it is still hot, with delicious elderflower cordial.