Recipe: Homemade Elderflower Cordial

One of the really lovely things about english summer in the variety of natural produce at hand throughout the season. Elderflower cordial is one of my favourite drinks and because we have elderflowers in abundance in my village, last month my mum and I decided to make some of our own. My grandma told me that you should only pick elderflower's in good weather, so we waited for a sunny day and headed down the lane to do some picking. The process of making the cordial is really easy, and it can be frozen and used gradually throughout the year.

Ingredients

2 litres of water

2 kilograms of Caster Sugar

6 lemons

2 packets of citric acid

Approx. 30 elferflower heads

The directions are very easy. Simply shake off the flowers and zest and slice the lemons, while bringing the water up to the boil.

Once the water is boiling add the sugar and let it dissolve, take the pan off the heat and then add the flowers, lemons (with zest) and citric acid. Give it a stir and leave to sit over night in the fridge so that all the flavour comes out of the flowers.

The next day simply strain the mixture through a muslin and then enjoy with water and lots of ice! If you fancy something a bit different why not add some ginger into the mixture? Enjoy :)