Entente Cordiale

This week we have made the first batch of Cordial.

Last years vintage stood us in good stead and we have only just used up the frozen batches so we have had a whole year of bottled sunshine.

 

It’s funny when you start looking for Elderflower bushes, you see them everywhere. I even found some peeping over the wall from our next door neighbours so I snipped a sneaky bunch.

This year I have followed the recipe posted on the fabulousplaces blog and added lime to the mix and it is really refreshing.

Elderflower Cordial

30 Elderflower heads
6 pints (approx 3 litres) of boiling water
900g of caster sugar
50g of citric acid – find this at the chemist
1 unwaxed lemon
2 unwaxed limes

Gently shake the Elderflowers; this will remove some of the little critters!
Using a very large bowl, carefully pour the boiling water over the caster sugar.
Stir the mixture well and leave it to cool.
Add the citric acid, sliced lemon and limes and finally the elderflowers.
Leave the mixture to cool in a safe place for approx 24 hrs, stirring occasionally.
The final step is to strain the mixture through muslin.
Once this is done the mixture is ready to be bottled in new or sterilised bottles.

Now I am going to make a second batch…

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original post from 2009

Sorry to go elderflower mad on my posts but the season is so short you’ve got to make hay while the sun shines. I made some Elderflower Cordial yesterday from the recipe in Celia’s blog and today it looks a bit less pretty but already tastes and smells lovely.

Here is batch 2 ready to be steeped:

I ummd and aahd about whether to make more champagne or more cordial and in the end the cordial won out as it is freezable and therefore will allow us to taste the Summer through ’til Winter. Also it is less dangerous, I don’t need explosion proof bottles and you can turn it into something fizzy by the addition of soda anyway. Plus I bought lots of citric acid that was pretty much burning a hole in my pocket.

Some quick notes and tips so far:

• You only need a smallish bag of elderflower blossom. We did not realise this until we got home with sackfuls of the stuff!
• One and 3 quarter bags look like a whole lot of sugar in the pan!
• It smells awful for a while when you 1st pour on the water
• You can measure the 1.5 litres of water into your kettle and use that to pour into the sugar mixture and also onto the flowers
• Citric acid is sold in the brewing section of large Wilkinsons stores, most chemists don’t sell it around here now
• Use the biggest pottery/enamel bowl you have, this one is not quite big enough so I now have a sticky kitchen floor (nothing new there then)
• Do not look at the paper that you shake the blossoms out over, the sight of all the little creepy crawlies will put you off making it

The 24 hour old batch is now golden and syrupy and ready to bottle.

Okay, enough already with the elderflower. I am off to do some baking!