Lately I went to Romania for an excursion, and met, amongst others, people from Slow Food who set up processing facilities for fruit in order to allow the local women to process their harvest and market it better. The day we came they had just finished making elderberry sirup and proudly handed out glasses of the wonderfully flowery drink. My Canadian friend had never tasted such and so the plan was born to make some at home. Today it happened. The eldertree in John's garden already showed signs of the coming fruit, but still boasted lots of white flowerheads. I worked them into the basic cordial recipe, for which you need 4kgs of sugar, 2 litres of boiled water, about 30 heads of elderflower (as I learned too late, try to get off as much of the stems and twigs as possible, they might end up making your cordial taste bitter) and 4 sliced lemons. Bring it all together, let it rest (with the occasional stir, once or twice a day) for 3-5 days and then pour through a cloth. Bring to the boil again, then fill into sterilized glasses or bottles and it will last months. The uses are endless ... But apparently, the classic mixture with water has been the thing to do in Victorian times. Icecream, Prosecco or pancakes are equally good friends with it.
If sirup is not your thing, check out the Bavarian Hollerküchln; fried elderflowers! Beautifully set in scene by Nicky from delicious days.
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