Garden House elderflower cordial
Posted:16 June 2011
With the recent winds and rain, this week may be the last opportunity you have to make elderflower cordial this year. We love it – it’s so redolent of spring and it goes down well on our garden Open Days!
Ingredients:
- 20 elderflower heads choose ones from trees away from roads and ones where the flower heads are in full bloom
- 1.25 kg sugar granulated or caster
- 4 satsumas or 2 oranges, sliced
- 2 limes, sliced
- 2 lemons, sliced
- 1.2 litres of water
- 30g citric acid (bought from a pharmacy)
Method:
- Wash the flowers carefully to make sure there are no little creatures caught up in the flowers.
- Put the cold water and sugar in a saucepan and gently heat to dissolve the sugar completely. Add the flowers and bring to the boil. Take off the heat immediately.
- Put the sliced fruit into a large bowl. Add the citric acid powder and then pour over the hot liquid with the flowers.
- Stir well and cover with a clean tea towel. Leave it somewhere cool for 24 hours, and then strain it into warm sterilised bottles and seal.
Its delicious, served with either stlll or fizzy water or white wine, on hot summer days, and so easy to make. It will keep for a couple of months in the fridge you can even freeze it!