Elderflower Cordial

There's something gorgeously satisfying about making such a deliciously refreshing and fabulously evocative drink as Elderflower Cordial out of a carrier bag full of stuff you've picked while walking the dog.

Apart from that, there are some things which, as you make them, you feel like you're bottling the very season itself, preparing to eke its memory out through the dark winter months.

This is one of them.  Raspberry jam is another - recipe WILL follow when the raspberries are ripe.

You can use this as it is, as a cordial, just adding ice-cold water and a couple of ice-cubes.  Squeeze of lemon if you like it tart.  You can make it into sorbet, ice-cream, whisk it into cream or drop it into champagne.  I did make Elderflower Champagne properly last year, but it was so explosive we became quite frightened of it, and had to spend hours hunting through the undergrowth for the ballistic swingtops.  So I'm sticking to cordial this year.

I've used a number of recipes over the years, but I've come down to a nice simple one.


50 elderflower heads
4 lemons
Water
Citric aciiiiiid
Sugar (for amounts, see below)

Put flowers in beeeg saucepan.
Zest lemon into pan.
Slice zested lemons and add to pan.

Pour boiling water over to cover.  At this point the flowers will go slightly brown, if the water is still boiling hot.  If you feel this may upset you, just let the water cool ever so slightly.  Actually, in all seriousness, if you leave the water for a minute before pouring over, I reckon you get a slightly fresher tasting cordial.  And the flowers don't all go brown.

Leave to steep overnight.

When you come downstairs in the morning, do not kick the cat out for weeing in the house.  At this stage, the tisane made by steeping the flowers has a definite base note of cat piss.  Don't worry.  This magically goes away.

Line a sieve or colander with clean muslin.  A note on this:  clean, but not brand new.  Wash it first as it has starch in when it's new!  I have seen recipes which advise using a new j-cloth.  Er, ick?  Those things are nasty.  Okay for wiping down surfaces, but would you really want to sip your drink through one?  Me neither.

Anyway, now that you've delayed matters while you washed your gitting muzzy, and lined your sieve with it, you can sterilise it by pouring boiling water over it.

Place the sieve over a large jug or bowl.

I repeat, place the sieve over a large jug or bowl.

This is worth repeating, as there are few things more upsetting than sieving all your elderflower tisane down the plug'ole and being left with a muzzy full of floppy flowers.

Pour the contents of the pan through it (checking that you're not about to overflow the jug).  Leave to drain, don't squeeze or you risk cloudy cordial.  Ghastly, darling.

I ended up with 4 litres of elderflower water.  I had to use two jugs.  Unless you have enormous jugs (ooer etc.) you will have to use two jugs, too.

Put juice back in (cleaned) saucepan and add half as many kg of sugar as litres of liquid - so for 4 litres of liquid, 2kg sugar, etc.

I have worked out through trial and error that you need about 1heaped tsp of citric acid per kg of sugar, but this is a bit of a movable feast, and you'll find all sorts of quantities recommended, from a pinch to a couple of boxes.

Place over a medium heat and stir constantly until sugar is dissolved.

Bring to a gentle boil and simmer for a couple of minutes.  I like to add some of the flowers back into the cordial, as I think they look really pretty floating both in the bottle and in the glass (especially if they're not braaaaahn).

Pour into hot sterilised bottles*, while the cordial is still hot, but not too hot to handle!

* To sterilise bottles, give them a good wash in very hot water, or run through dishwasher, or preferably both.  Allow to dry, then place in a hot oven for 10 minutes.  If using swing top bottles, remove the swing tops before running through the dishwasher as the salts can corrode the metal.  I tend to just place them in a pan and pour boiling water over them, then leave to cool.**

** Three months on, my cordial is all still untainted, so this seems to work fine.