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
Hi Sharron
Campden tablets are used in winemaking to avert the possible contamination of fruit flies. They may work in cordial but personally I wouldn’t risk it.
Hi Lindy
It’s difficult to say what went wrong without knowing what recipe you used. I’ve found that our recipe above is pretty foolproof.
Hi Heather
Haven’t heard of that one! If you added a little cordial to a lot of alcohol it would definitely keep!
The shop cordial should be refrigerated after opening. It keeps better as it is bottled hot into sterilised bottles. There are instructions for this in the comments above (see Andrea’s comment).
Hi Rita
Use the ratio in our recipe 55g of powder to 1.5 litres of water.
I have managed to buy some citric acid powder from the local chemists but there are no insstructions for diluting lt – what ratio of powder to water. Would it be safer to use more lemons?
Please I have two questions?
Would adding a small amount of alcoholic spirit to the Elderflower cordial act as a preservative, and STOP fermentation?
Also why will the cordial one buys in the shops keep, if that that which is made at home will not?
Hi there, I made 3 litres of cordial last week and after enjoying one bottle for 3 days it went mouldy on top (and slightly fizzy) and the remaining 3 bottles that haven’t been opened since bottling now also have a film and mould spots on top. I am so disappointed and don’t want to remake in case the same problem occurs only time is running out….. can anyone tell me what I may have done wrong? Thanks.
Hi all
I read somewhere that a little bit of crushed up campden tablet in each cordial bottle will help keep it keep and then will not need to go into the fridge. Not sure if this is correct but I’m gonna try it out on some cordial which has been sitting for three days now – recipe from ‘Food for free’ says leave for five which is hard to do!
Hi Holly
Lemons are a great substitute for citric acid. We use the juice a lot in winemaking, instead of citric acids and it works well.
Hello all!
I do know where to get citric acid but a) I dont want to wait!
and b) Id rather use all natural ingreedients if poss, so does anyone know if substituting more lemons for the citric will do the job?
Im just waiting for the sun to come out!
Hello Angie
Hope that your cordial making is a success!
Hi elder friends! I’ve got a really old elder tree in my back garden and always wanted to make use of it – many thanks for all your great ideas -I will get picking tomorrow! Noticed the cordial being used a lot by the famous Dehlia in her Summer cook book – worth a look.