A sticky end to a sweet time!

After a lovely jaunt with the ever so sweet Ragged Roses a few weeks ago, a plan was hatched to go hunting and a making of the popular Elderflower Cordial!
Buckets and secateurs in hand we escaped to our favourite hunting ground. May I point out that wearing short cropped trousers was NOT a sensible idea, elderflowers like to grow in the centre of stinging nettle circles! Really! A stick and a pair of ladders would have been a good idea too, but where there's a will there's a way! ouch......


With blossom in our buckets and on our noses we settled down to the familiar Bakery treat and a taste of what we anticipated to be the nectar of our rewards!

Do you know, people like to take strolls around our land! Tut tut, really we shouldn't allow it! If only this glorious place was ours, we have already moved into the grand house at the bottom of the hill and planted our lavender farm. With a striding struggle back up the hill, past the orchids and peacocks! (sorry Kim!) saving the national park mending gates, we headed back to base.

With all the nattering, picking and giggling we realised we had to make this heavenly drink! Thank goodness we had the help of this recipe. With doubling quantities here and replacing ingredients there we did get a little confused.

Shaking the blossom in the garden desired a bit more brain cells, was that 20 flower heads...21.... no 30? Oh lets say 50!

Kim did a fantastic job of stirring the HUGE amount of sugar and water in the preserving pan that my mother so kindly has given me! (I can see a lot of Jam and Chutney making on the horizon).

Lemons zested and chopped! Oh what a lovely scent. Had we picked the right blossom or were we going to get Cat pee?

Wafts here and there were chased around the kitchen, ''yes I can smell elderflower..... just here.....no, no, er, over here!?''

The magic ingredient 'CITRIC ACID' oh my, talk about gold dust, was added! That Kim is a canny lady, if you want your citric acid, she's ya lady, nudge nudge, say no more!



Any way, I night was spent fingers crossed waiting for the filtering and bottling! Did we have Elderflower cordial?..........................................

OH YES WE DO!

With added sparkling water and a few ice cubes we giggled and giggled drunk on the spirit of a summer to come!


As we have made vast amounts, Kim and I would love to hear your uses for Elderflower cordial that we could try and in return a lucky person will receive some summery goodies to help us celebrate!

Chin chin me dears......

just need to go and clean all the sticky sweet residue that 2 bloggers ave left in my kitchen!