Elderflower cordial with lemon and vanilla

Elderflower cordial with lemon and vanilla

by calum
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Elderflower cordial with lemon and vanilla

You only have a short window in the year when you can collect elderflowers …. so make the most of it … this cordial can be frozen!!
Course Drinks
Cuisine British
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 2 hours
Total Time 2 hours 20 minutes

Ingredients

  • 2 kg Caster Sugar
  • 4 Lemons halved
  • 2 tbsp Citric Acid your chemist should have it
  • 40 Elderflower heads
  • 2 Vanilla Pod

Instructions

  • Split and remove the seeds from the vanilla pods and reserve the seeds.
  • Fill a large pan with 4 litres water. Add the sugar, lemons, vanilla pods and citric acid powder, and bring slowly to the boil.
  • Boil rapidly until the mixture has reduced by half, then remove from the heat. This is important as it will determine how syrupy your cordial is.
  • Add the elderflowers to the pan and stir gently. Leave to cool completely, then pass through a sieve lined with muslin (or clean tea towel) into another clean pan.
  • Whisk in the vanilla seeds and store the cordial in sterilised bottles with a strip of peel and the vanilla pod added
  • To make a refreshing drink, use 1 part cordial to 5 parts iced water.

Notes

 1. I used wine bottles to store the cordial, and sterilized them using the dishwasher on a hot cycle.
2. If you want to freeze the cordial, store it in a 1 litre plastic coke bottle … when you freeze it it will not freeze solid