Cool, refreshing, home-made elderflower cordial. Wouldn’t you just love one…? The Bovey Climate Action Food Group aims to show people how to cut carbon through their consumption of food – sounds like a good deal. And they are in the process of putting together a heap of recipes which use local and home-grown vegtables for their website. We’ve picked up their secrets to making elderflower cordial.
This is Audrey’s recipe for elderflower cordial, but you’ve got to be quick, you’ve got around 10 days to try it before the elderflowers go over, she says.
Bovey Climate Action are putting together whole raft of recipes, if you have a favourite recipe that can be made using mostly local/UK-grown ingredients, do send it to Lin Lambell at lu_label@yahoo.co.uk
Elderflower Cordial
Cordials like this are better than imported fruit juices – especially ones that you find in the chilled cabinet (which use lots of electricity)
You can use the same basic method to make lemon squash (start at 4. and use 3-4 lemons), or ginger beer cordial (use 6 teaspoons of ground ginger instead of elderflower), or you could crush 250g of strawberries/blackberries/blackcurrants into the water instead of elderflower for a fruit cordial. I’ve even used rose petals! The lemons replace the industrial citric acid, which is in many recipes.
15 heads of elderflowers
2 pints/1 litre water
1lb/500g Silver Spoon granulated sugar (you can buy this UK-grown sugar at Bovey Spar)
2 lemons
3-4 clean bottles/jars with vacuum lids
1. Pick 15 heads of elderflowers – the flowers should be out, but not starting to brown. Remove any leaves.
2. Put the water in a wide-based pan.
3. Put the flowers head down in the water and leave to infuse in a cool place overnight or for 8-24 hrs.
4. Strain the liquid, discard the flowers and put the liquid back into the pan.
5. Grate the lemon peel and squeeze the lemons into the liquid.
6. Add the sugar and bring to the boil, stirring till it dissolves.
7. Put the bottles/jars and lids in a roasting pan and pour some boiling water in each of them.
8. Empty the water out of each jar in turn, fill immediately with the boiling cordial and screw the lid on tight.
Should keep for a year or so. Dilute to taste. Makes about 8 pints/4.5 litres of drink. Costs about £1
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