Today is beautiful and sunny ( I think we are allowed to be pleased because it did rain a bit yesterday...) and the perfect day for harvesting elderflowers.
We are really lucky because we only have to walk as far as the back garden to harvest ours and it is a beautiful black elder, so the flowers are pink - and there are hundreds this year, maybe thousands...the air is filled with the smell and buzzing creatures are coming from all around.
The first year we lived here I was uncertain as to whether the black elder was edible, but having made several batches of Elderberry Tonic for the winters and berry crumbles with a few elderberries thrown in I can safely say that we have all survived and the quails have thrived on elderberries each Autumn, so it must be.
This year is the first Elderflower Cordial year for this bush and I am really, really hoping that it will be bright, bright pink, like the flowers...24 hours of steeping has just begun, the kitchen smells fantastic...we will find out tomorrow!
3 comments:
I had to read this twice...there is the possibility that your elderflower cordial will turn out pink, no? That's really exciting! I can't wait to see the result. I'm planning on making our first batch this month so I will be looking out for tips! Good luck!
It looks fantastic already. Thank you - I need to go elderflower hunting this weekend. Hope this beautiful weather keeps up! What recipe are you using?
The signs of pinkness are there, the liquid is going pink - hurray :)
And the smell is great, the house smells of summer.
My recipe is a bit of Sophie Grigsons but with slightly more random measuring - fingers crossed - my plan is to bottle some of it and to make the rest into ice cubes to store in the freezer and then pop into drinks...
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