The best gardening clubs are the one's which involve eating and drinking.Last week we collected some elderflower blossoms from an elder tree growing at the back of our school orchard. We used them to make elderflower cordial and then the next week we had a picnic in the orchard. We ate our own broad beans and tried the cordial. Some people liked it but not everyone. There is still time to make your own
as the tree is in flower til the end of June. The recipe follows.
Elderflower cordial
Makes 2 litres
Ingredients
10 large or 20 small
elderflower blossom crowns (early June is the time)
900g unbleached granulated
sugar
2 lemons washed and sliced
25g cream of tartar
2.3 litres of boiling water
Snip off the stems and shake
the flowers gently to remove any bugs. Put to one side.
Fill the kettle and bring to
the boil.
Put the sugar and cream of
tartar in a large mixing bowl and pour over the boiling water. Stir well then add
the lemons and then the flowers.
Mix gently. Cover and leave
for 48 hours. Stir now and then (about 6 times should be ok). Strain into
another bowl, use a fine sieve you may need to strain it twice. Decant into
clean plastic water bottles. Keep one in the fridge and freeze the rest, defrost as needed.
Dilute to taste. Serve very cold with lots of ice.
