This is the weekend to get out in the garden or go for a walk and harvest all those beautiful creamy and fragrant elderflowers! Arguably one of our favourite foraging recipes, the mixture will keep very well in the fridge, but can also be frozen in ice cube trays where it should see you through until the end of summer; delicious with soda water, added to a glass of prosecco, drizzled over ice cream or used to perk up Greek yoghurt or a fruit fool!
Ingredients
25 elderflower heads
1kg granulated white sugar
1.5l water
3 unwaxed oranges, roughly chopped
2 unwaxed lemons, roughly chopped
50g citric acid
- Pick the elderflowers on a sunny morning, after the dew has evaporated (and as with all foraging, make sure they are not harvested from any areas where there is either heavy traffic pollution or the danger they could have been er, polluted by dogs!).
- Don’t wash the heads, just give them a vigorous shake to remove any bugs; I often leave the blossom spread out on a tea towel for half an hour just to let the little blighters escape. Cut off the thick stem as close as possible to the flowers, as it can make the syrup bitter.
- Tip the sugar into a large ceramic bowl then pour over 1.5l of boiling water and stir so the sugar starts to dissolve.
- Allow to cool, then add the chopped fruit, citric acid and flower heads. Give everything a final stir then cover with a clean tea towel.
- Steep the mixture for 48 hours, stirring occasionally, before straining through a sieve lined scalded muslin. Pour into sterilised bottles and store in the fridge where it will keep for a good six weeks.
