You will need:
- 1.5 litres of boiling water
- 1 kilo of white granulated sugar
- 20 or so large elderflower heads (fill about half of a supermarket carrier bag)
- 2 lemons and 2 limes, unwaxed
- 55g of citric acid
- glass bottles (we recycled empty cider bottles with screw lids)
Preparation:
- Pick your elderflowers, ideally when the sun is on them so that all the flowers are open.
- Try not to pick any heads with brown flowers.
- Give the elderflowers a good shake and a wash before you use them. You want to get rid of as many insects as possible, without losing too much of the pollen.
Method:
- In a large saucepan, pour the boiling water onto the sugar and stir.
- Leave to cool, stirring every now and then until the sugar is dissolved.
- When cool add the citric acid, the lemons and limes, and the elderflower heads.
- Leave to steep for at least 24 hours.
- Strain through sterilised muslin.
- Pour into sterilised bottles.
The easiest way to sterilise your muslin is to wash it, and then iron it with a very hot iron until it’s dry again. We sterilised our glass bottles in the dishwasher, but you can also use the oven. Wash the bottles, and place them upside down in a cold oven. Set the oven temperature to 160° or gas mark 2-3. When the oven has reached temperature, turn it off and allow the bottles to cool. You can sterilise the lids by placing them into boiling water for a few minutes.
Don’t be tempted to taste your elderflower cordial straight out of the saucepan! Remember that it’s supposed to be diluted before you drink it, so it will taste very strong indeed.
Warning:
Elderflowers have an extremely strong scent, which is what flavours your cordial. The scent is in the pollen, and these tiny flowers have a lot! You might want to avoid this recipe if you suffer from hayfever. I’m not usually a sufferer, but by the time the entire house was filled with the scent of elderflowers, my eyes were watering terribly. You’ll definitely need to take your hayfever medication before you start!
All of these tutorials and downloads are completely free for you to use and print! They do take time and resources to put together though, so if you wanted to pop a few pennies in my PayPal tip jar or buy Miss Mouse a coffee by way of a thank you, I’d be very grateful.
So… how does it taste?
It tastes really good! (If you like elderflowers. And limes.)
It’s really, really strong tasting though, so you only need a very tiny bit in your glass before you dilute it. I’d like to try it with tonic water, I think that would be nice.
Just in the process of making some although the citric acid took some finding
Missbliss, I’ve just read your citric acid saga! I’m glad you managed to get some in the end.
I used to be a soapmaker, so I had a huge bagful left over from that. I bought it by the kilo, from Gracefruit.
Elderflower cordial tastes lovely as a long vodka cocktail with either lemonade or fizzy water to dilute it. Personally I prefer fizzy water but some like it a bit sweeter.
I remember making Elderflower Champagne as a child and hooting with delight when some of the bottles exploded, embedding the tops in the ceiling and adding an usual paint effect.
The trick is not to wash the flower heads but just shake gently. Everything else will be sterilised/killed by the heat and then you filter through muslin – bye bye bugs! The natural yeastiness activated by the pollen and sugar makes the most wonderful summer fizz.