The hedgerows around our town are billowing with elderflower at the moment and I am so glad we still have hedgerows! Here's a couple more recipes I will be trying this month. The cordial recipe is from our resident herbalist, Penelope Baldwin, who is currently completing a Bachelor of Culinary Arts at Otago Polytech in Dunedin. I haven't tried it yet so will have a go today and see how it turns out. I might use sugar as I don't have a lot of honey this year. Elderflower Cordial.
14 elderflower heads
2 organic or spray-free lemons
1 teaspoon citric acid
2 cup honey (or sugar)
3 cups water
Pick elderflowers on a dry sunny day and
shake gently to remove any dirt or insects then separate the flowers from the stalks
with a fork into a heat proof bowl Add
the honey/sugar, citric acid and lemon (cut into 5mm slices)Bring the water to a boil then pour over elderflowers, stirring till honey/sugar is dissolved.
Cover bowl and let stand overnight, strain through clean muslin and place into sterilised bottles and store in the fridge
Elderflower and Gooseberry Fool
This is a very traditional pudding combining some classic tastes of summer. Gooseberries were a Christmas treat and a bit of an acquired faste for us Northland country kids. Grandma would always get some sent up on the train to make tarts for Christmas. I often thought that's how the tart got its name! Now I can grow heaps of them here at 45 degrees South but lemons are another thing altogether. I need to swap some abundant northern lemons for some abundant southern elderflowers!
You
Will Need.
About
10 elderflower heads (fresh as you can)
500g
Gooseberries
1/3
cup caster sugar (about 40g)
Lemon
Zest – just a strip or a teaspoon of grated lemon peel.
300ml
cream.
To
Make:
Place
flowers, 2 tbsp of the sugar, strip of lemon zest in a pan. Add a little water
and stir over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Turn up heat to a
simmer and gently cook for 10-15 minutes until the berries have softened and
started to break up.
Whiz
in food processor or push through sieve to make a puree and test for taste. Add
more sugar now if necessary. Leave to cool.
To
make the fool: Whip cream and fold into the puree. Put into some beautiful
glasses and chill before serving.
I
would think that if you didn’t have access to fresh elderflowers then a few
drops of elderflower cordial to taste should be a good substitute.
2 comments:
I just finished making this and a few notes. When I strained this just with a sieve my husband noticed a lot of little black dots. They were little tiny bugs. So we strained again through a jelly cloth (muslin or cheesecloth.) So when the recipe says shake for bugs, it means it! These ones were so little I don't think they would have shaken out.
He is also a bit worried about putting them in glass bottles such as old Barkers juice bottles. He has more experience in home brewing than me! I did safely do it last year but in the meantime will store in shed outside. Using recycled plastic bottles is safer but not so glamorous when you bring it out at Christmas time!
Actually that comment was meant to go on the elderflower bubbly page. Same thing about straining though.
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