It’s June!
Which means it’s Summer, AND it’s elderflower season.
photo credit: elisabet.s via photopin cc
I had a go at making elderflower cordial last summer, without a huge amount of success. It looked a little bit like horse wee once it was bottled up, but it didn’t taste too bad….
We were sat watching the fantabulous Mary Berry on i-player the other day, and she shared her recipe for elderflower cordial, and I am inspired to try again. But I was also inspired to try and find out what else one could make from elderflowers.
A quick Pinterest search later, and the answer is “quite a lot”.
So just in case you too are feeling the need to pretend you are real life forager (I have this image in my head of me serenely wandering around an idyllic meadow somewhere, wicker basket hooked over my arm, stopping periodically to scoop more lovely blossoms into it….), and to go pillaging the hedgerows for elderflowers with not much of an idea of what to do with it afterwards, then here’s a little bit of help.
Before we start-here is a great elderflower post from miyDIY, which goes into teeny tiny details, like how to find elderflower, and make sure you have the right stuff.
Drinks
1. Cordial. Yes, I know it’s the obvious one, but lots of the recipes use the cordial as their base, so here’s the recipe that Mary Berry used in her Mary Berry Cooks series
2. Elderflower Champagne. I saw them make this once on River Cottage and it looked like hard work, but if that’s what floats your boat, then try out this recipe from The Essential Herb Blog
Alternatively, you could just add a slug of your cordial to some champers
3. Elderflower Gin. Like Sloe Gin, but with elderflowers. Simples.
I wasn’t sure it was really a ‘thing’ but then I found this recipe from the Telegraph. So it must be.
4. If you’re going completely Tom and Barbara, then you have to try out Elderflower Wine. Here’s a recipe from Self Sufficient-ish
5. Elderflower Tea from 5 orange potatoes-apparently it’s very good for you, and it looks super easy
Image from 5 orange potatoes
Bakes
6. Lemon and Elderflower Drizzle Cake from JibberJabberUK. Sounds delicious, and it’s an all in one bowl recipe, which are my faves!
7. Pear and Elderflower Upside Down Cake from Mainly Baking. Looks like another simple recipe, so definitely one to add to the list
8. Almond, Elderflower and Lime Travel Cakes from Food&Wine-surely just the name “Travel Cakes” is enough to get you clicking through to see what they are…!
9. Elderflower and White Choc Chip Shortbread. This recipe from Wallflower Girl sounds divine
Image from Wallflower Girl
10. Elderflower macaroons from The Young Austinian-these are the big chunky macaroons, not the little dainty macaroons (should that be spelt differently..?) but they look pretty fab
Puddingy Things
11. Apple, Elderflower and Cinammon Pudding. From the people who make Elderflower Cordial at Belvior Farms
12. Elderflower and Lime Cheesecake from ClaireJustine oxox. Say no more. I’m in.
Image from Claire Justine oxox
13. Elderflower Panacotta. I think Mary Berry did one on Mary Berry Cooks, but this recipe is from British Food
14. Elderflower sorbet-check out hits recipe from the Wartime Housewife
15. Elderflower and Raspberry Jelly-these jellies from BBC Good Food look far too good to give to the kids…
Other Stuff
16. Elderflower and Vanilla Jelly (think clear jam, rather than wibbly wobbly) from Lovely Greens
17. Elderflower marshmallows-as if homemade marshmallows were not enough, thanks to the Independent, you can have Elderflower Marshmallows, and really show off
18. Elderflower ice cubes-in this What You Sow blog post, they are added to G&T, but these would also be great in some sparkling water, or even to liven up plain old tap water
Image from What You Sow
19. Elderflower Curd-we love any kind of curd in this house, so will be trying this recipe from NAMI-NAMI out!
20. Elderflower sugar-like vanilla sugar, or lavender sugar, but elderflower 🙂 From All That I’m Eating (what a great name for a blog btw!)
And if you want anymore, you can check out my Pinterest Foragaging…Elderflower board
Right them, grab your wicker baskets, and off you skip 🙂
My Make Do and Mend Year 
Reblogged this on Linda's wildlife garden and commented:
Awesome post Jen thanks for sharing
No problem Linda 🙂
I love Elderflower my mum used to make it when we were kids,however I couldn’t remember what it looked like only the smell,this last week I had the kids hunting on our walks and then mum brought some on the train from Bristol to ours cornwall .I then realised that it grows in abundance at the church at the bottom of our road the very same church that we have been going to for 6 years. I found it very funny. anyway I made us a batch of elderflower and orange juice and 3 out of 4 of my kids love it. I will be giving some of your recipes a try to they look yummy.
It does have a very distinctive smell doesn’t it-kind of a cross between arm-pit and wee…!! Glad the majority of your kids liked it-could be a new annual family tradition you’ve just started 🙂
Reblogged this on Down My Front and commented:
There’s a huge bush/tree at the top of our street that is laden with elderberries every autumn- they always go to waste. This year I have vowed to pick a basketfull and try to make something ( wine, cordial? ) but now I will have to bring my plans forward and pick some of the flowers instead… I have reblogged this to inspire me- thank you!!
No problem 🙂
I made an elderflower and gooseberry pavlova once ( using the Belvoir cordial)- that was pretty special – add it to the list! cheers from
Kay
Sounds delicious! We have a gooseberry bush in the garden too 🙂
Reblogged this on Thrifty Lesley – 1 person, 1 day, £1 and commented:
Lots of lovely ideas for using elderflowers here, in season right now.
Once you have located your elderflowers, go back again in the autumn when the flowers have become berries and pick some of those too. You can use them like any soft fruit, they have a distinctive flavour, so see if you like them. I have frozen them and used them fresh and frozen in muffins, pancakes and fruit cakes. Also I have successfully dried them, when they turn into tiny currant like fruits, those are brilliant in cakes etc.
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thanks for all these ideas!
My pleasure!
Last summer I made gooseberry and elderflower jam and it was just so incredibly good. It is just gooseberry jam with a bunch of elderflowers tied up in muslin (ok I used a [new] j cloth) added when stewing the gooseberries and removed when the sugar is added. It is just fabulous and it is hard to believe how much a little bunch of white flowers lifts the flavour of the jam.
I also discovered that you can freeze the flowers for use over the summer when cooking. The flowers turn a funny brown in the freezer but if they are tied up in a muslin/ j cloth then it doesn’t matter because the flavour is still there.
Yes, I saw on Twitter that you could freeze them, and then the gooseberries and elderflowers can be used at the same time. Sounds delicious!
I’ll just be making elderflower fizz; elderflowers, lemon, sugar and water – stand for 24 hrs, filter and bottle, drink after 14 days. i love the way lazily taking a few simple ingredients makes something so good. The only problem I’ve ever had is having the bottles explode and sticky sweet fluid everywhere.
How does it make it fizz?
I don’t know! That’s one of the magical things about it. There must be wild yeast on the flowers or something. It’s more or less the same ingredients as the elderflower champagne recipe but put together with less fuss. Adding white vinegar prevents mould so perhaps that’s best added to take away risk. I’ve seen people fermenting it in bowls/casks/demijohns before bottling but I always bottle straight away.
Great!
Elderflower ‘bombs’ here from time to time – gave our house sitter a real fright once – make sure to use undamaged fizzy pop bottles, not squash ones. Loosen the top (cautiously) (and over a sink) if they look really distended.
That’s a VERY useful tip, thankyou!
I’m using everything from 2litre plastic lemonade bottles to glass wine/lambrini ones – larger amounts seem to give more ‘oomph’ when the bottle’sfirst opened.
That’s useful to know, thankyou!
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Wow who knew that you could do so much with elderflower!! I really wanted to attempt to make cordial this year but I fear I am too late as the flowers are starting to turn brown 😦 Just ran out of time. Thank you for sharing on #ThriftyThursday 🙂
No problem Gina! Thanks for hosting 🙂
I love elderflower season. We make cordial each year, but my very favourite is using fresh as tea. Just don’t eat something sweet with it. Ruins the flavour. #ThriftyThursday.
Ooooh, elderflower tea sounds great! Will have to give it a try 🙂 Thankyou so much for stopping by!
I love elderflower and have quite a few bottles of cordial that I made this year. I love to use it in cakes and puddings x #ThriftyThursday
Great idea! I’ve just made a cake with it, and it is DE-LICUOUS! Thanks for stopping by from Thrifty Thursday 🙂
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