Fiona’s traditional elderflower cordial recipe
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Cordials and Syrups | 181 comments
Photo: Elderflower blossoms in the sun - best picked for cordial
It’s elderflower cordial recipe season once again!
Yesterday afternoon I found myself up a tall ladder with a carrier bag, picking elderflower heads. I picked about fifty heads. They are best picked when the sun is on them. I climbed higher and higher to find exactly what I wanted. They had to be perfect with no trace of brown blossom. According to Joanna’s Food brown blossom can foul the cordial.
My sister brought a similar recipe back from France. Since I introduced Danny to elderflower and pink grapefruit cocktail, it seemed a good idea to make my own cordial tweaking the recipe to suit my taste.
There is a printable recipe card below the post!
There seem to be as many uses for elderflower cordial as recipes. Apart from adding a splash to fruit fools and pies, it can be added to a vinaigrette dressing, and apparently is delicious with chicken breasts. Determined to experiment I made double the quantity below. I poured my cordial into warm sterilised bottles and sealed them immediately with corks. They keep well in a cold area of the barn – we often are finishing the last bottle of cordial as the new flowers open on the trees. I also freeze some syrup, just in case.
Other elderflower recipes that my interest you:
Fiona’s Elderflower and Lemon cordial
Judy’s Elderflower and Lime Jellies
Fiona’s Elderflower and Raspberry Jellies
| Fiona’s traditional elderflower cordial recipe |
- 1.5 litres of boiling water
- 1 kilo of white granulated sugar
- 20 large elderflower heads (if they are small, pick more)
- 4 lemons
- 55g of citric acid
- In a Pyrex bowl (or deep saucepan) pour the boiling water onto the sugar and stir. Leave to cool, stirring every now and then to dissolve the sugar.
- When cool add the citric acid, the lemons (zested and sliced) and the elderflower heads.
- Leave to steep for 48 hours.
- Strain twice through sterilised muslin (how do I sterilise muslin? See Tips and tricks below)
- Using a jug and funnel carefully pour into hot sterilised bottles (how do I sterilise bottles? See Tips and tricks below)
Tips and tricks:
How do I sterilise a jelly bag or muslin square?
Both can be scalded with boiling water. If you are using a clean muslin bag or square you can iron them with a hot iron. This also works with tea cloths.
How do I sterilise bottles?
The sterilising method that we used is simple. Just before making the syrup, I quickly wash and rinse the bottles and place them upside down in a cold oven. Set the temperature to 160c (140c fan-assisted). When the oven has reached the right temperature I turn off the heat. The bottles will stay warm for quite a while. Sterilise the lids by boiling these for a few minutes in water.
Leave a reply
Found this lovely site while looking for elderflower cordial recipes. My dad used to make elderflower ‘champagne’ which was both explosive and, with hindsight, potent as we always got giggly. He used to used rewired champagne bottles. For ginger beer he used heavy-bottomed old screw top beer bottles (I think they were beer bottles). Is it possible to get hold of heavy-duty bottles like this now?
Hello Jenny
Very good I suspect. Why not follow Anthea’s lead and leave some in the garage for a few months!
Hi Anthea
This is interesting. No wonder my neighbour’s carers constantly drink homemade elderflower cordial!
Hi Maria
I reckon that your cordial should work.
It’s always best to pick any flower with the sun on them as they are fully open at that point. Old hippies sometimes know best!
Oh, and is it true that the elderflower is best picked at noon on midsummer’s day? Or is this hippie nonsense?
Hi Anthea,
I’ll certainly try leaving the odd bottle until Christmas then!
Just put the elderflowers in the water & sugar but don’t have citric Acid so added more lemon/orange juice. Hope it works as it smells super…
Thanks so much for the tips
On the subject of Elderflower cordial, don’t keep it too long. I made some last June and my kids (2 boys 13 & 15) loved it. One bottle got left in the garage until Christmas and they asked if they could still drink it. ‘Sure’ I said ‘It’s only elderflower cordial. If it tastes OK, then it’s fine’. 30 minutes later their hysterical giggling led to the discovery that they were totally ‘smashed’ after only one glass! Beware!!
Thanks so much – it has all come flooding back! Have just picked elderflowers so will make cordial first followed by ginger beer. Wonder what it tastes like with a dash or two of vodka?
I’ll let you know how I get on.
Hi Jenny
I am thinking of doing the same and have already researched this. I reckon that this looks like a great recipe for starters
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A827426
I’d love to hear how you get on!
Sorry – should explain what a ginger beer “baby” is before you think I’m completely nuts. It is the basis of the drink – a combination of ginger and yeast/or possibly sugar (can’t remember) which you “feed” with more sugar or yeast (again, can’t remember) and then after a while it matures and you can add water/sugar in vast quantities, bottle it and wait for it to brew/explode. The end result is absolutely delicious. If I remember rightly you can reserve some of the original “baby” to start the process all over again.
Stumbled upon you guys when looking for elderflower cordial recipes. Has anyone the “recipe” for making a ginger beer baby? When I was a child my mother used to make heaps of ginger beer for us – it was extremely potent (don’t think she realised this) as it had yeast and sugar in it and bottles would regularly explode in the cellar. She died 14 years ago and I have stupidly lost the recipe and method – I know it involved ground ginger, yeast, sugar and water but have no idea of quantities. By the way your recipes sound fabulous – Trevor, what do you call your elderflower/gin/damson concoction?
Hi Margaret
Thanks for this tip. Exploding codial bottles would be a bit of a nightmare!