Elderflower cordial

January 6, 2017 No Comments

This scorcher of a summer’s day has sent me scuttling into my cool, dark blogging cave. The sweet, subtlety floral tang of elderflower cordial is on my lips, a perfect pairing with a 35C day.

Forever the victim of romantic rather than practical gardening notions I bought an elderberry in my first year of gardening. It soared skywards, exulting in the chicken yard muck it was rooted in. Three years passed and I never got around to doing anything with the flowers, I moved house with a broken elderberry branch in hand and just sort of stuck pieces of it in the ground. It really suckers like crazy so I was quietly hopeful that something would strike; the result was a mini elderberry forest outside my bathroom window. It is really a delightful plant for a capricious gardener, who flits from whim to whim and neglects everything but the latest obsession (which happens to be a mini lily pond).

My southern elderberry grove has thrived in shade with only the water that dribbles out of the tap. This summer its leaves are tickling the eaves and with base in the shade and tops soaking up the sun it seems to be taller each time I look at it. Its shallow, “non-threatening root system” and low water demand make it a lower risk for planting near the house. It has also thrived in full sun in the food forest when planted in the cooler months. (Not much has relished a high summer planting in full sun.) A fun fact about elderberries is that they are pollinated by flies, so I guess flies aren’t completely useless then. A less fun fact is that the leaves, stalks and stems contain a toxin called sambunigrin, that’s why a fork is part of my utensils list of this recipe. Intrigued? Read on!

Recipe

Makes 2 Litres (2.75 passata bottles full)

Takes 24 hours

25 Elderflower heads
Peel of 3 lemons + 1 orange
Juice of 3 lemons + 1 orange
1 kg sugar
1 tsp citric acid (optional – Citric acid is a preservative so if you are drinking within 2 weeks and keeping refrigerated it is unnecessary)
1.5 Litres of boiling water

My elderflowers are heavy with blossoms and all the trendiest cafes are serving elderflower soda, seems like a good time to try my hand at making my own. It turned out to be fairly easy, but you need to leave the flowers steeping overnight so make sure you give yourself plenty of time. Goes delightfully well with Tortilla de Patatas on a hot summer’s night. I’ve also added it to kombuca for some added fizz.

Elderflowers are antibacterial, antiviral and anticatarral, so with a little luck it will balance out that delicious kilo of sugar. When fighting a cold elderflower tea with a spoon full of honey might be a better medicine.

Your kitchen kit

For harvesting (Basket, Secateurs, Newspaper, Fork)
For infusing (Large bowl, Potato peeler, Sharp knife, Chopping board, Tea towel, Lemon squeezer, Jar (for citrus juice),
For straining (Large strainer, Cheesecloth/muslin, Springform cake tin (optional) – I used this to prop up the strainer while the syrup dripped through as my saucepan was shallow, Tea spoon)
For cooking (Saucepan, Wooden spoon)
For Bottling (Ladle, Sterilised bottles for cordial – I wash with soapy water, put in cool oven on top of tea towel and turn up heat to 150C. When they are dry I turn off oven and leave warm until ready for bottling.)

1. Pick elderflowers that have just opened as they will have the most pollen. If there are still a few unopened buds you will know they are fresh. — Pick elderflowers that have just opened as they will have the most pollen. If there are still a few unopened buds you will know they are fresh.

If you sniff them they should have a pleasant aroma. A flower that smells of bitter decay will make a drink only Tim Burton would enjoy.

Cut flowers on a warm, dry day as rain washes away the pollen that adds the flavour to the syrup.

Spread on paper to allow bugs to leave flowers. You don't want to wash the flowers. — Spread on paper to allow bugs to leave flowers. You don’t want to wash the flowers.

Bugs start leaving the flowers as soon as they are picked to find a happier home. In 1 hour most of them should have departed.

Stalks are bitter so roughly remove blossoms with a fork.

Use a fork to remove the flowers from the stalks. — Stalks contain toxins, but many people skip this step and have come to no harm.

Lemons contain citric acid (preservative) and ascorbic acid (vitamin C)

Peel citrus thinly as white pith will make it bitter. You can grate the rind as well, but I find peeling easier. The juice will be added the next day so pour it into a jar and refrigerate.

Ad 1.5L boiling water. Don't be alarmed if the flowers turn brown, it won't affect the flavour. — Ad 1.5L boiling water. Don’t be alarmed if the flowers turn brown, it won’t affect the flavour. Cover with a tea towel and leave it to infuse overnight.

Next day it went quite brown on top where the flowers weren't fully submerged. — Next day it went quite brown, on top where the flowers weren’t fully submerged.

Scald your cheesecloth/muslin by placing in saucepan of water and bringing to the boil to sterilise it even if new. I placed it in my strainer as it boiled to sterilise that too.

Place strainer over saucepan and drape muslin over the edges. I propped mine higher over my saucepan because it was shallow with a cake tin. — Place strainer over saucepan and drape muslin over the edges. My saucepan was quite shallow so I propped the strainer up with a cake tin.

Strain the infused elderflower liquid through muslin.

Press down with a ladle to squeeze out extra liquid. Leave for 15 minutes to drip through.

Cover with a plate while liquid drips through the muslin to protect from flies.

Add sugar. It is a preservative which prevents spoilage of foods, but more importantly serves to inhibit growth of food-borne pathogen. — Add sugar which is also a preservative which prevents spoilage of foods, but more importantly serve to inhibit or prevent growth of food-borne pathogen.

Add citric acid. 1 teaspoon powdered Citric Acid is equivalent to ¼ cup lemon juice.

Simmer saucepan on medium heat stirring to dissolve sugar.

Poor hot syrup into still hot sterilised bottles and screw on sterilised lids. Bottle must be warm or they will break with sudden change in temperature. As they cool the lids will seal as pressure changes. — Poor hot syrup into still hot sterilised bottles and screw on sterilised lids. Bottle must be warm or they will break with sudden change in temperature. As they cool the lids will seal as the pressure changes.

Elderflower punch - cordial, sparkling mineral water, passionfruit pulp, apple slices and ice. — Elderflower punch – cordial, sparkling mineral water, passionfruit pulp, apple slices and ice.

I hope you try this at home and enjoy on a balmy evening. Do you have any other recipes that are perfect for a hot day? Let me know in the comments below.

Links

Garden, Recipes

BUILDING AN EARTH OVEN PART 5 – LOOKS LIKE A COCONUT ROUGH

May 30, 2013 1 Comment

earth-oven-insulation-layer-rendering-seat-superadobe-bag

looks like a coconut rough

building an earth oven part 5

This is the stage we affectionately call the coconut rough, it’s not that attractive but inside it holds unexpected delights!

Forgive the delay between stage 4 and 5, it is oh so tempting to put your feet up once you’ve made a basic earth oven. You can cook a most mouthwatering pizza in it, so you can get lazy, putting off the insulation layer. But if you attempt to cook pizza for the masses, your first pizza and maybe your second will cook like a dream in under 5 minutes, but by the time you get to your fourth or fifth the oven cools and you start getting nasty doughy uncooked centres.

Time for the next stage! Let’s make an eski out of this mudpie!

STEP 11: MIX IT MAKE IT

Make a sludgy mix of equal parts clay and sawdust and add water until you get that nice mudpie consistency, use a shovel to chop up any clay lumps. Apply it just as you did in stage 3, no need to pack it down too hard, you want all those air pockets made by the sawdust to trap the heat inside.

STEP 12: FIRE IT BAKE IT

Then all that’s left is to light a fire to dry it out and once it’s hot enough, why not push the burning embers to side and cook a delicious wood fire pizza!? There is nothing like it! Although warning once you try it you might become a pizza snob and those second-rate takeaway ones will never do! Perhaps a good thing for the health and the hips!

STEP 13: DO IT DOOR IT

Of course if you want to get into sourdough bread baking you’ll need a door. Pizza’s cook merrily fast in a super hot oven with the door off, but bread needs too cook more slowly and evenly so you’ll need a door. The bright sparks among you would have made the door first and then built the oven around it so it fits like a dream, but that’s not how we roll here. We just grabbed some timber off-cuts and banged them together then carved it to fit. Hey, it does the job! The bread needs a cooler over so remove all the fire embers before you bake it, once the dough is in shut the door and return in 15 minutes for a mouth watering delight! But don’t be too greedy let it cool a bit first, it’s still cooking once you take it out!

Garden, Recipes

HOMEMADE PASTA – IT’S HARD WORK

September 4, 2011 No Comments

I made tortellini from scratch for Sunday night dinner, and oh my stars it was a lot of work! It was very satisfying, but I’m not sure I’ll do it again until I am really trying to impress someone.

As is my usual cooking style it was a mix between three different recipes this one, this one and one from an old Italian cookbook that my mum lent me. I don’t know why I can’t just follow one recipe, commitment issues?

My mix and match recipe went something like this:

Baked Spinach and Ricotta Tortellini with Pumpkin and Sage Sauce