Friday 21 June 2013

Summer is Here!

Now that the long anticipated summer has finally arrived, I can't wait to do all those things that make great family memories; picnics in meadows, building sand castles, family get togethers, bbqs and more but one of my all time favourite things is homemade elderflower cordial, bottled in gorgeous vintage lemonade bottles. I love using chilled sparkling water to make a wonderfully refreshing summer drink to enjoy whilst whiling away the summer days.

Here's my recipe for homemade elderflower cordial and the beauty of it is it literally uses 4 ingredients!



6 elderflower bunches (approximately)
3 lemons
900g granulated sugar
600ml water

~ By hand, clean the elderflower heads removing any unwanted bits that may be in amongst the flowers and put them in a large bowl.
~ Peel and slice the lemons and put the rind of the lemon and the slices in the bowl with the elderflower, squeezing the juice from all of the slices of one of the lemons onto the elderflower.
~ In a heavy based pan pour the 600ml of water and 900g of sugar and bring to the boil to create a syrup. Once the mixture has reached boiling point, turn it down to simmer for a further 10 minutes or until the mixture is clear and has developed a syrup like texture
~ Once the syrup is ready, pour it directly into the bowl with the elderflower and lemons, stir gently and leave to cool. Once the mixture is cool, cover the bowl and leave for 24 hours

~ Once the 24 hours is up strain the syrup mixture through a muslin into a clean jug.
~ Sterilise the bottle and lid for your cordial by pouring boiling water into it and leave for about 2 minutes then empty. Once sterilised, pour the elderflower cordial into the bottle and replace the lid.

Dilute the cordial using still or sparkling water to your own taste

It really is that simple, a gloriously easy drink for those glorious summer days!

M xx

1 comment:

  1. i have an elder tree in the garden and love making this every year. it really is a great drink

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