Elderflower Cordial

There are plenty of different recipes for cordial based on the flower of the Elder tree (Sambucus Nigra), I used a nice basic one as this is the first time I've made any. My ingredients are:-approx. 30 large flower heads (shaken to remove bugs), a kilo bag of sugar, 3 unwaxed lemons, approx 50g of food grade Citric Acid (available from chemist's but I got mine from ebay- didn't cost much) and 3 pints of boiling water.

Dissolve the sugar in the boiling water in a large bowl or pan; finely grate the rind of the lemons and add , along with the citric acid, to the syrup; thickly slice the rest of the lemons and throw them in; finally add the flower heads (snip as much of the stalks off behind the flowers as possible) ; cover and leave to steap for 48 hours.

After 48hrs fish out the solids and strain through some muslin or laundered cloth into sterilized bottles. Apparently it keeps for a good month if stored cool or can be frozen in plastic bottles.

I was pleasantly surprised by how nice it tastes after initially sniffing the flowers with low expectations. I have read it goes well with Sloe Gin so I think I'll give it a try.

Cheers John