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.
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Hi – I’ve just found your straightforward recipe after using a recipe labelled as such, but it turned out to be for Elderflower Champagne!
Will put a link to this on my blog as a thank you.
I make elderflower cordial every year. I use extra lemon juice as I can’t be bothered with citric acid. I used to add whole slices of lemon but have stopped doing that as I find the pith gives an unpleasant bitter aftertaste to the cordial: now I add the zest and juice only. I tend to use less sugar (1 kg bag to 1.5 litres water with 40 flowerheads, plus zest and juice of 4 lemons). I make a syrup, then add the flowerheads and lemons, simmer for c. 10 minutes and leave to steep overnight, no longer. I then strain through muslin and bottle in 0.5l water bottles (not bothering about sterilisation since it isn’t meant to keep very long anyway) and freeze them. After taking the bottles out of the freezer, they are stored in the fridge. We love elderflower but tend to not use too much of it because of the high sugar content. This way, the flavour is strong and the sugar content not too high: however, as pointed out before, the low sugar content means it won’t last too long at room temp (or even in the fridge).
Thank you so much for that! I will give it a bash, I’ve found some citric acid now so I’ll try it and see what happens.
If I get a chance to go out this weekend I will see if I can try again and I won’t steep for so long- I suspect it was quite warm even in the coolest place in the house. I might try it in the shed and steep for 48 hours next time.
This was the recipe I followed – admittedly it’s only supposed to steep for 3 days but I didn’t quite get to it before 3.5 days!
http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/570531
Hi Emma J
I’d love to try that recipe!
Very interested in your planned sculpture for Pink Wood and want to be sent some clay!
Hello Aura
I sterilise everything from the word go. It’s worth the trouble. Do hope that you can save some cordial!
Hi Catherine
3.5 days sounds quite a long time span for seeping to me. I generally seep for 48 – 60 hours max. You need a very cold space, a fridge or a really cold floor and cool days too.
If the cordial tastes OK I might try bottling it (in sterile bottles) but keep a close eye on it. It will be obvious if/when the mold forms.
If you still have access to pure white, fresh elderflowers it might be worth having another go.
I looked on the BBC website and can’t locate the recipe that you used. Most of their recipes just steep for 24 hours.
Hi there
I picked my flowers at the weekend, they’ve been steeping for 3.5 days and have just gone to it now to do the next stage- there was a small amount of mould floating on the top.
I’ve poured it all through the muslin but am thinking I might have to bin it all, it’s contaminated, right? If I’m boiling it now for a minute as per the BBC recipe, can I still use it to make cordial or is it ruined? am gutted, it was fine yesterday when I stirred it.
I used double the amount of lemons as didn’t have citric acid, but then you don’t put that in til the end anyway, so I wouldn’t be adding any more lemon or I think it will taste hideous anyway.
what do you think – should I bin it?
thanks, I do hope I can save some liters of teh cordial, definitely I am sterilizing everything now and good luck to all of us in the making of elderflower cordial
My father used to make fantastic elderflower champagne and he always added a bit of ginger to give it that champagne type bite. Other than that I don’t remember the recipe, I just remember the ladies he brought back from church for a little tipple wobbling up the road after a single glass!
Hi Karen
Thanks for your advice. Great that the Campden tablets don’t taint the cordial. Thank you.
Hi Aura
I don’t think that there’s anything that you can do. The bacteria will have probably infiltrated all of the cordial.
Hello Maria
You can drink it immediately. You could add extra vit C but this is just a soft drink rather than a health drink (look at the amount of sugar :))
Hi Trilby
Thanks so much for these great tips.
Much appreciated.
Ps Another useful tip I forgot to include
If you can’t find or don’t have muslin for straining, use a jay cloth!
Useful tips:
I found citric acid in my local health food store this week after being told at the chemists they no longer stock it. I was so pleased as I only asked the shopkeeper as an afterthought. Perhaps most health shops stock it?
You can get nice little labels at lakeland, the only place I’ve ever seen them.
I keep my cordial in our cool garage but always put it in a lidded cardboard box in case of explosion, which has happened. I even put something heavy on the lid.
Cheers