Anne's Dad's Elderflower Cordial
INGREDIENTS
For roughly 2 1/2 litres of cordial:
30 large clusters of elderflowers
3 large lemons
1,5 litres of water
1500 g sugar
50 g citric acid
HOW TO
This recipe is tried and tested both by us, but also is verified by coming from the excellent food blog Anne's Food, (www.annesfood.blogspot.com)
Put the elderflowers in a very large container, it should at least hold five litres. Dad uses a metal bucket. Brush the lemons in hot water and thinly slice them. Add to the flowers. Bring the water to a boil, and stir in the sugar and citric acid. Pour this hot liquid over the flowers and lemons. Cover with a lid of some sort. Let the cordial stand in a cool place for 3-4 days.
Strain the cordial - baby muslin squares in a sieve works fine, just make sure the container underneath is wide enough - and put into small, freezable containers. If you're not going to use up the cordial any time soon, it keeps best in the freezer. If you don't want to freeze it, you need more sugar and some sort of preservative, like benzoic acid.
