I was a bit worried that I may have missed the frothy heads of elderflower while I was in Australia. Last year I made some excellent elderflower cordial using the recipe promoted by my very dear friend 60 going on 16 and stocks needed replenishing. So I have been mightily glad to see the elderberry bushes still sporting their lovely flowers.
I don't think the blogging world needs another recipe for making elderflower cordial but in putting together this year's batch it occurred to me that visually it has to be one of the prettiest of production processes. So here's my blow by blow account of making the precious stuff - in three photographs!
Oh, am so envious of your 2012 crop! I was all prepared, as usual (buckets, sugar, citric acid) l but my elderflower bushes have produced precisely two heads this year. That's barely enough for a bottle. I still have one bottle from last year, however, and am saving it for the arrival of a dear friend from South Africa, who is staying for a week.
ReplyDeleteOf course, I could have driven around and scavenged but it wouldn't have been the same; I much prefer making cordial from my own elderflowers, which are well away from traffic, car fumes, agricultural spraying etc.
So, for the first year in ages, we have no cordial and no elderflower champagne . . . just constant and torrential rain and flooding. Not to mention very soggy roses.