Up here on the Mendips, the Elderflower comes into bloom a little later. So last weekend we were ready to collect and bottle the essence of summer. Below are the recipes/ methods for fritters and cordial. 

Elderflower Fritter Batter (for about 10 fritters)

• 100g plain flour

• 1 tsp baking powder

• 1 tbsp caster sugar 

• Pinch of salt

• 150ml sparkling water (ice-cold - we use our Soda Stream)

• 1 egg white (thank you Bubble)

• ~1/2 litre sunflower oil for frying

Chuck the flour, baking powder, salt,  egg white and sugar into a bowl. Gradually whisk in the sparkling water until you have a smooth, thick batter. Don’t worry - a few lumps are fine. Heat oil (sunflower or vegetable) in a pan - test with a bit of batter that its hot enough (~175°C). Dip fresh, clean, medium-large, long stalked elderflower heads into the batter and let them fry for several minutes until crisp and golden. Shake off excess oil, dry on some kitchen paper, dip on a plate of sugar eat immediately.

LBF Elderflower Cordial (makes about 10 litres in bottles)

• 5kg white granulated sugar

• 12 lemons

• 80-100 largish fresh elderflower heads - picked away from busy roads to avoid dust and pollutants

• 350g food grade citric acid (available from Amazon*)

• You will also need a ~25 litre fermentation bin. I prefer two for ease of bottling - the second with a tap. 

Collect enough bottles to hold 10 litres of cordial. Old squash bottles are fine - about 750ml is best. Wash thoroughly and let air dry a few days before making the cordial. 

Using your largest pans, boil up batches of the sugar and a total of 6 litres water. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Put this in the fermentation bin and let it cool.  

Use a potato peeler to remove the zest from the lemons, then slice the lemons into rounds. Rinse the elderflower heads in water and then put these and the lemon bits into the water/ sugar mix. Add the citric acid, stir, put a lid on and leave for 24-72hrs to steep. 

Using a clean tea towel or similar (I used a clean t-shirt this time) cover your second clean bin/ bucket and pour the cordial mix through (straining out the flowers and lemon bits). The clean cordial can now be bottled using a funnel or siphon tube. Beware - it's very sticky. Two pairs of hands are essential so as not to make a huge mess. 

You can drink it straight away - but we like to make this large batch for the summer and beyond. We add (2.5) Campden tablets to cordial just before we bottle it - which allows it to last for many months. Otherwise you'll need to drink it within about 4-8 weeks (longer if you keep it in the fridge).