Elderflowers

Elderflowers

The finest free food of the summer began appearing in the last couple of weeks.

Elderflowers are the creamy white bursts of strongly scented, spiky tasting flowers that decorate hedgerows and parklands all over Ireland and can be spotted at 100 metres.

The flowers eventually become elderberries in the autumn, a berry that is only moderately useful, so feel free to pick as many as you can reach.

Identify them once, and you will not mistake them again as the aroma is very distinctive.

Pick the flowers on a dry day, choosing only fully open sprays. You can return in a week and pick just as many as the tree flowers abundantly.

For a delicious dessert dip the flowers in good batter (beer and flour works well), sprinkle with caster or vanilla sugar and serve hot with ice cream.

For Sorbet, mix ten flowers into 500ml of hot sugar syrup (half sugar, half water), add the rind and juice of 2 lemons, and allow to cool. The following day freeze the sorbet in an ice cream maker or half freeze, and remove every 20 minutes to beat out the ice crystals.

Cordial is the most common use of elderflowers and can be poured on ice cream or used to make a kind of kir with a dry white wine or kir royale with sparkling wine.

Elderflower Cordial
Bring 3 pints (1.7 ltrs) of water to the boil in a large pot and stir in 3lb (1.5Kg) of sugar.

Add the grated zest of 3 lemons, followed by their juice, and two ounces (50g) of citric acid (buy or order from your local pharmacy).

When fully dissolved remove from the heat and add 30-40 clumps of elderflowers. Try to remove most of the stalks as too many will give a slightly bitter flavour. Stir well and leave to cool overnight.

Strain the cordial through muslin into a jug. Sterilize some glass bottles by filling them with boiling water for a few minutes and bottle the lemonade.

Dilute with fizzy or still water and add lemon or mint for extra zing. Keep the cordial in a cool place and refrigerate once you open a bottle.