The flowers are truly beautiful when looked at closely.
We walked down the fields and picked some of the high growing elderflowers from a ladder. Helen wanted to save the bushes nearer the house so that we can pick the elderberries in the autumn to make Elderberry Jelly.
A trug full of blossom.
It was nice to be able to take time to enjoy the view after picking some flowers.
Returning to the house we decided to make an elderflower syrup. I think this is the easiest of the many recipes we looked at.
700 g granulated sugar
18 elderflowers
1 lemon
Measure the sugar and grate the lemon zest into a saucepan. Add 600 ml cold water. Heat slowly until the sugar melts and bring to the boil. Add the elderblossoms to the pan. Push the florets down into the liquid and bring back to the boil. Cover and set aside until the contents are cold. Squeeze the lemon juice and stir into the syrup. Strain through a sieve and bottle. Store in a fridge. This will keep for eleven months and can be used as the base for elderflower cordial and to flavour batters, milk puddings, mousses, custards, creams and ice creams.
Elderflower vinegar was also made by bringing cider vinegar to the boil and pouring over the elderflowers. This was set aside to mature for a fortnight.
Another elderflower vinegar recipe just asked for the vinegar to be warmed gently with 2 or 3 elderblossoms in the vinegar and then removed and bottled when cold. Both will be a delicious addition to a summer salad dressing.
More information on the event can be found at the links below:
With the Elder still in flower and inspired by Ella's McSweeney's blog we are off to pick some more to make Elderflower Champagne!
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