Thursday 12 May 2011

Elderflower cordial




By popular demand I am posting my recipe for cordial here, but it's not really my recipe.

20-30 freshly picked heads of elderflower (stalks but not leaves)
zest of 2 lemons and 1 orange
up to 1.5kg sugar
up to 200ml freshly squeezed lemon juice

Shake off any insects on the flowers, then put all the flowers into a large bowl or preserving pan with the lemon and orange zest,



pour just boiled water over it all just covering everything. Leave for a few hours or overnight.



I remove all the heads etc. by hand and put them in a jelly bag and give them a good squeeze and then put the mush in the compost.



Strain the remaining liquid through the jelly bag. Measure the amount of liquid you have and pour into a saucepan.

For every 500ml of liquid, add 350g sugar and 50ml lemon juice. Heat gently to dissolve sugar. Bring to simmer, skim off scum, let it cool, strain again through jelly bag, bottle on, into clean bottles or if you are lucky enough to have a freezer, freeze it......

I do 2 - 3 times the amount above, so adjust your amounts accordingly. I've made too much today and have made a terrible sticky mess in the kitchen!!!

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