So… it’s June… it’s almost midsummer’s day… AND IT’S FLIPPING RAINING! It’s so grim outside, after a delightful week, the weekend is grey and dreary and the heavens won’t stop tiddling. So I’m having a day in the kitchen. It’s quiche, bread pudding and elderflower cordial on the menu today.

Yesterday we actually ventured into a shopping centre for the first time in quite simply years as that is just something we never ever seem to do. It was quite surreal parking in a multi-storey and walking through a town I have to confess.

We were picking up some bits for hubby. My wedding anniversary present to him last week was a home brew beer kit – which he absolutely loved (dingding score with the present!) and so we needed to get a pressure barrel as the final part of the puzzle. While we were there, I tried to buy citric acid but they were all out of stock and the shop assistant actually laughed out loud at me when I asked for it. “You’re too late, the last one went this morning dear – I take it you’re making elderflower cordial?” Well, erm, yes, I am. Is everyone else too? Apparently so.

I finally managed to get some from our village pharmacy, picked up the last two packets they had. The chemist and the two assitants all nodded with a knowing smile and said “we all know what you’re doing this afternoon” lol.

Luckily we have elderflower all over the place in the fields here – do try and collect them from somewhere away from a road and the pollution that it brings. And don’t do what my mum once did and mistake it for cow parsley. That would not make for a nice brew, I’m quite sure.

Okey dokey – so here is the recipe and how-to for anyone who’s not made this before. If you haven’t, please do – it just tastes of summer and sunshine and somehow captures everything about the fresh air and hedgerows all in a little bottle. It’s wonderful just as a cordial with water, sparkling water is quite delightful too if you’ve not tried that but if you are after a cocktail of summery-ness, then add a little snifter to a glass of prosecco. I promise you, you will want to make hoards of the stuff to last you all year. And what a great present for someone too. Who doesn’t love a home-made gift?

Preserving nature’s harvest. I just love it.

30 heads of elderflower (snip them off with scissors, take as little stalk as you can)

2.5kg white granulated sugar

80g citric acid

Two lemons (unwaxed)

1.5l water

So. Using a big preserving pan, pop in the sugar and the water and bring to the boil gently so that the sugar dissolves and it starts to boil, then take it off the heat. Yes I know, it’s a lot of sugar, but hey-ho, you only have a little bit at a time and far better you know what’s in your drink than buy stuff from shops that contains all sorts. This recipe makes somewhere around 3 litres, just over in fact, I think I ended up with six 500ml bottles and one 250ml so that’s 3250ml in total.

Peel your lemons (I use a potato peeler) then slice up and put into the pan once the sugar and water are dissolved and off the heat. Add your citric acid and stir. Fill your sink with clean cold water and rinse each elderflower head to get off any bugs and beasties or dead flowers then shake them off and add to your pan and stir. (Still no more heat at this point)

That’s it then, cover with a teatowel and leave overnight.

The next day, sterilise your bottles (I am a fan of the dishwasher method or the oven at 100 degrees rather than using steriliser which I find can leave a bit of a tang) and strain your cordial into a jug, then funnel into your bottles.

Boom-bang-a-bang. The bestest, most awesome elderflower cordial you’ve ever had in your life. Homemade with a little help from mother nature.

OH – I ALMOST FORGOT

So as you know I’m a user-upper-not-a-thrower-awayer. So with all that fabulous lemon peel, I took another sterilised bottle and popped it all in, then filled up with olive oil. So now I have a delightful lemon oil steeping away, ready to be used in about a month or so. Yummer scrummer indeed.

It might be raining outside, but my kitchen smells like sunshine 🙂

Toodlepip x