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!!
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