Elderflower Cordial
Apr 27th, 2012 | By Hank Shaw | Category: Foraging, Recipe | Comments | 15 Comments |
Photo by Hank Shaw
April is a wonderful month. Flowers are everywhere, fishing is getting into gear and the summer garden is laden with promise. Foraging can be a little thin in my neck of the woods, however, as the greens are starting to go as the weather warms, But there is one delight to be had: Elderberry flowers.
Finding the buttercream flowers isn’t too tough: Elderberries grow everywhere near rivers, and the American River is loaded with bushes big and small. I’ve never seen them before mid-April in Northern California, but they bloom even earlier in SoCal, and in the Southeast. I’ve seen elderflowers all over the place in Georgia and Florida in early spring. The farther north you live, the later you must wait.
Keep in mind that an elderberry bush is a large plant, and can even grow into a small tree. Study the leaves in the photo above: They are a lush dark green, slightly serrated on their edges, and form on stalks; each leaf should be opposite to another. The flowers are cream-colored, not white. Sometimes over-eager foragers fail to look at the plant they are picking from and grab hemlock by mistake. This can be fatal. But hemlock looks nothing like elderberry, so I have a tough time figuring out how this mistake happens…
A good rule to live by is to not take more than a few flower heads from each elderberry bush: This ensures that the bush will have enough to spread itself, it makes you find more bushes — it’s never a good thing to have only one spot for anything you forage for — and, most importantly, selective picking means you can come back in a few months for the berries.
Photo by Holly A. Heyser
Only choose the most beautiful flower heads; you don’t want flowers that have yet to open or are past their prime. Collect them in a paper bag so they can breathe. Plastic will make them wilt and sweat.
You will need a lot of flowers to make cordial, and even then the flavors of these sunny drinks are subtle. What does it taste like? It is more of an aroma thing, although the elderflower “lemonade” I am drinking right now has a certain tannic backbone to it that says it is not just lemonade.
It does look like lemonade, doesn’t it? There’s a reason. You make the base for elderflower cordial by preparing a simple syrup (1:1 sugar to water), bringing it to a boil and pouring it over lemon zest, a little lemon juice, LOTS of elderflowers, and a little citric acid, which adds flavor and keeps everything stable. You let this sit at room temperature for 2-4 days to macerate, and the result after you strain it through cheesecloth is this lovely-looking syrup.
I add about a tablespoon of the syrup to a pint of water to make a drink with the level of flavor Gatorade has; add more syrup for a stronger drink. It tastes a lot like an Arnold Palmer (50-50 iced sweet tea and lemonade), but as elderflowers are known to be seriously good for you, I like this better.
Holly added some syrup to vodka to make an “Elder-tini,” which, when added to some cherries, make a damn good cocktail. Elderflower syrup is also excellent mixed with Champange (a classic), and its Italian cousin Prosecco. Heather makes a drink called a Caddisfly Nymph, which is elderflower syrup, Prosecco and a touch of Peychaud bitters.
Photo by Holly A. Heyser
elderflower cordial
This floral, sweet-smelling syrup is a perfect match with seltzer water or, better yet, champagne. I add lemon to my elderflower syrup to give it some zing, but the aroma is all elderflower. It is a delicate scent, very sweet and just a bit spicy.
The two difficulties in making this syrup are time and one special ingredient: Citric Acid. You need this to help keep the syrup from molding up on you in the fridge; it also adds acidity to the cordial as well (as you might imagine from an acid…) You can find it at any brew shop, or buy citric acid online.
As for time, you need to infuse the flowers for at least 2 days, preferably three; I have seen other recipes that call for four days, but you might get spontaneous fermentation holding it that long.
Makes about 1 quart of syrup.
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
- 1 quart water
- 4 cups sugar
- Juice of 2 lemons
- Zest of 2 lemons
- 1 tablespoon citric acid
- 25 elderflower heads
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- Snip off the flowers from the stalks into a large bowl or bucket that will hold everything. Try to remove as much of the stems as you can; they are toxic. A few stray bits of stems will not hurt you, but you want to minimize it.
- Zest the lemons and add it to the bowl, then the citric acid and lemon juice.
- Bring the sugar and water to a boil, stirring occasionally to dissolve. Pour the syrup over the flowers, lemons et al and stir to combine. Cover the bowl or bucket with a towel and leave it for 2-4 days.
- When you are ready, strain it through a fine-meshed sieve lined with cheesecloth or a paper towel into a clean Mason jar. Seal the jar and store in the fridge.
- To serve, pour 1-3 tablespoons of the syrup into a pint glass and add water or seltzer. Or you can add a tablespoon to a glass of sparkling wine, or to a couple shots of vodka or gin.
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I love the idea of Holly’s “Elder-tini”, not to mention adding the syrup to sparkling wine. May just have to go picking this weekend and try this! Just recently picked up a bottle of citric acid at Whole Foods thinking it’d come in handy soon
You are sooo far ahead of Sweden. There isn’t even a hint of elderflowers here yet. But your post is getting me excited about them already. Fortunately when they do arrive I am surrounded by them, even in my urban neighborhood. Elderflower cordial is really popular in Sweden. It’s so easy to make but not a lot of people do it themselves anymore. You can buy ready-made cordial in any market. All the more flowers for me! I learned from an internet friend that cordial can also be made from lilacs using the same process. Have you ever tried that? I might give it a go this year.
Elderberries are in bloom on the Oregon coast (at least here on the central part) so this post has me thinking… might have to head out for some foraging soon.
One of my pet peeves doing landscape work is how often clients want us to remove those “weedy” elderberries. Drives me crazy! How can you not appreciate this beautiful plant — leaves, flowers, berries– that requires no care to thrive?
I noticed the picture is of a different type of elderberry than we have here in the Puget Sound. Will Red Elderberry flowers work as well? I know the red berries are not as edible as blue (they have to be thoroughly cooked and don’t taste very good), but I’m curious about the flowers.
Jerimiah: I never use red elderberry for anything. It is borderline toxic, and honestly, it’s hard to find here in California. But maybe someone up in Washington state uses it?
oh, yum….I know St. Germain – which I love – is made with elderflowers, and so is Absolut Boston (Absolut infused with black tea and elderflowers). Love the idea of making it for myself !
I tried to infuse some homemade vodka (yes I have a still but hey this post is anonymous!) with lupin and it didn’t turn out very great. After reading Hanks post I think I use WAY too few lupin. I used roughly a handful for an entire 750ml bottle of 100 proof vodka. I was trying in vain to preserve that incredible spring fragrance of a field of lupin. I got good and drunk but there wasn’t much lupin on my breath. I’m going to try again with massively more flowers and see what happens. Thanks for the inspiration.
I had meant to post when this first came out but this and that happened and I didn’t get to it (yeah, I have a five year-old). So, I’m back today. I was very intrigued by this home made version since I’m a huge fan of St. Germain. That stuff is so stinkin’ expensive, I’m thinking that the flowers they gather in the Alps must be something way more unique than the ones that you find here? Is the flavor comparable?
Can I substitute crushed Vitamin C tablets (ascorbic acid) for the citric acid?
I use crushed Vit C tablets in the water dip prior to dehydrating foods to act as a flavor & color preservative. It’s so much cheaper to buy plain Vit C tablets when they’re on sale because I don’t need to use very much for dehydrating and I don’t have to keep an extra product on my shelf.
Liz: I have no idea. I suspect it will work, but I am not sure. Lemme know if it works, OK?
Hank – how would you turn this into jelly? Is it feasible?
Wendy: I don’t eat jelly, but all you’d need to do to this would be to add pectin. Look for a mint jelly recipe and use that as a guide.
Just found some elderflowers in Italy (“Fiori di Sambucco”) along a roadside, do you think washing them would rinse out their essence? Fortunately citric acid is sold in regular grocery stores here, with so many people doing infusions at home, looking forward to trying your recipe, thanks!
Igridyant: It’s not ideal, but a quick dip in some ice water will not destroy the flavor, and it gets rid of bugs. Just swish the flower heads around in the cold water and you should be fine.
[...] everywhere! – just make sure to know the tree you’re looking for. Apparently it’s easily confused with poisonous hemlock. Both plants grow near water, though the flowers of the hemlock are shocking white, unlike the [...]