Elderflower Cordial

clickerty-click

Planning ahead a little but I am thinking of trying to make some Elderflower cordial.

Has anyone had any experience (good or bad) that they can share

Thanks in advance

Feral_Moon

Make sure you pick your elder flowers early in the morning in a nice sunny day. I think you need around 5-6 heads per litre. You'll also need lemons, sugar and citric acid. Oh and clean bottles for bottling it, obviously.

I usually make elderflower champagne rather than cordial, it's perfect served chilled on hot summer evenings.

missbiggles1

Feral_Moon wrote: »

Make sure you pick your elder flowers early in the morning in a nice sunny day. I think you need around 5-6 heads per litre. You'll also need lemons, sugar and citric acid. Oh and clean bottles for bottling it, obviously.

I usually make elderflower champagne rather than cordial, it's perfect served chilled on hot summer evenings.

I made elderflower champagne once - it was lovely but the place stank of cats' wee!

lindadykes

Both Elderflower Cordial & Elderflower Champagne are delicious. I have made both though I tend to make the cordial more. The Champagne is very effervescent and if kept in a too warm place can cause the bottle to explode! I suggest if you are a beginner in this area start with the cordial - dilute with sparkling water to give you the bubbles! I've posted recipes for both below.

Elderflower Cordial

20 heads of elderflowers (don't wash them just shake them gently to remove any insects)
2 oz citric acid
1kg sugar
3 pints water
1 lemon sliced
Place sugar in a large bowl and pour over the boiling water, stir till the sugar dissolves. Add the other ingredients. Cover. Leave for 24 hours. Strain through sterilised muslin (just pour boiling water over it first) into sterilised bottles. You can make this without citric acid, but it won't keep too well, though it can be frozen.

Elderflower Champagne

6 heads of elderflowers
900g sugar
2tbsp white wine vinegar
4 1/2 litres of cold water
2 large lemons
Shake the flowers to remove any insects. Boil 1 litre of the water. Place the sugar in a large container and pour over the boiling water, stir until the sugar is dissolved. Add the cold water, the lemons, thinly sliced, the vinegar and the flowers. Mix well and cover. Leave for 48 hours. Strain carefully and pour into plastic screw top bottles. Should be ready after 1 week. check the bottles every day or so as you may need to release some of the fizz.

Enjoy!!

Farway

missbiggles1 wrote: »

I made elderflower champagne once - it was lovely but the place stank of cats' wee!

I have also made elderflower champagne

Tip for all, there are two types of elderflower blossom, one is good, the other smells like a tom cat

Sniff before you pick, and only use the non feline verion of course.

clickerty-click

Thanks all for your feed back and special thanks to lindadykes for the recipes, I think I will try the cordial first and see how I get on and maybe try the champagne next year.

maryb

I make elderflower cordial using the River Cottage preserving book recipe, it is lovely. But it never used to last very long (not just me drinking it all)! I know some people save small water bottles and freeze it in half litre quantities but I am short of freezer space and I always forget to take it out in time

So now I use glass bottles which I save all year. Wine vinegar bottles are just the right size for me to use up before it goes off
I have a really big pot that I bought in a French supermarket that is deep enough to stand the bottles in and cover them with water so I use the water bath method to "bottle" my bottles. This kills any yeast and stops it fermenting and makes them last all year. I love it mixed with fizzy water, it can almost make me forget I am not drinking alcohol

misty6

I would like to try making this too. Where do you get citric acid from please? Thanks

Farway

misty6 wrote: »

I would like to try making this too. Where do you get citric acid from please? Thanks

usually comes in powder form, from somewhere like Boots, Wilko [wine . beer making dept], also used in food so in cake / baking area of supermarket

or just use lemon juice

misty6

Thank you Farway - I'll look out for some.