How To Make Homemade Elderflower Cordial

With summer finally here it means that the Elderflowers are out in full bloom and are ready to be picked and turned in to tasty cordials, wines and champagnes.

According to woodlandtrust.org.uk the perfect time to pick Elderflowers is June, so this weekend will be the last chance to get out and pick them and to use them up before they disappear for another year.

Elderflowers are ready around late May to mid-June. They’re best picked when the buds are freshly open on a warm, dry, sunny day, well away from traffic fumes.

woodlandtrust.org.uk

In our recipe this week we teach you how to make Sen5es home made elderflower cordial.

Perfect for those hot summer days filled with BBQs and picnics. This cordial will be the star of the party for both children and adults alike.

It doesn't just have to be added to water though! At the bottom of the blog we've also included some other amazing ways to use this tasty cordial.

So pick your elderflower. Choose your bottles, sterilise them and follow along as we take you through in our step by step guide on how to make elderflower cordial.

Elderflower is everywhere during the summer

Ingredients

This will make around 2 litres of Cordial. So stock up on your glass bottles before starting!

• About 20-25 elderflower heads

• Finely grated zest of 3 un-waxed lemons, plus their juice

• 1kg sugar

• 1 heaped teaspoon citric acid (optional)

Equipment

• Large Saucepan for cooking

• Muslin for straining

• Colander for draining

• Funnel for pouring in to your bottles

• Bottles. We would recommend our 750ml Soft Drinks Bottles with gold caps but any of our soft drinks bottle below will work great!

All of our glass soft drinks bottles are perfect for cordials

Method

1. Dissolve the sugar in to about 1.5 litres of water. Do this by heating on a gentle heat without letting it boil. Give it a stir every so often.

2. Remove the zest from the lemons and chop them in to slices.

3. Once your sugar has dissolved in the water bring the pan of syrup to the boil and then turn off the heat.

4. Clean your elderflower heads by inspecting for bugs and gently washing in cold water.

5. Add elderflowers, lemons, zest and citric acid to the syrup and stir well.

6. Cover the pan and allow to infuse for 24 hours.

7. Line a colander with a muslin cloth and sit it over another pan large enough to collect your cordial.

8. Allow it to drip slowly through and discard all the contents collected by the muslin.

9. Use your funnel decant the cordial in to your bottles. Don't forget to sterlise your bottles first. To learn how, to check out our blog on how to sterilise bottles.

Our 500ml Swingtop bottle is also a great choice.

Great ways to use

1. The obvious one is to add to ice cold water and serve. Simple and delicious.

2. Add to fruit salads. Once you've prepared all your fruit and have it in a bowl. Gently drizzle some undiluted cordial over your fruit and give it a mix.

3. Freeze in to ice cube trays and use for some tasty ice cubes in your G&T! When you are decanting your cordial in to bottles, save some and put in to ice cube trays instead. These can them be used by simply adding to water or to a plain gin and tonic!

4. Make ice lollies! Add 1 part cordial to 3 parts water and freeze in an ice lolly mould. Your kids will love these sweet treats.

5. Add to your standard jam recipe to give a delightful elderflower twist to your normal jars of jam.

Thanks for joining us for our latest recipe. What other summer treats do you like to make? We would love to hear from you. Let us know what we should make in our next blog and we will have a go ourselves!

Don't forget if you decide to make any elderflower cordial yourselves please let us know! Make sure you tag us in any social media posts and follow us for more updates! You can also follow us on Instagram and Facebook. Be sure to tag us in all your awesome product shots and use the hashtag #sen5esbottles. We love seeing our products in the wild!

All the best

The team at Sen5es