Hedgerow To Kitchen
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Bringing the hedgerow into the kitchen, beginning with elderflowers
by Sarah Head |
Late May and June herald the arrival of elderflowers and the joy of enlivening your kitchen with something free from the hedgerow. Elder trees grow everywhere. You don't need to be in the countryside, you will find an elder tree in almost every park or piece of open ground. This time of year you can't miss them with their huge white plates of shining flowers glowing against the cool green leaves.
No-one should object to you picking as long as you don’t denude the tree entirely – remember that if you take all the blossoms, you won’t have any elderberries to dry, tincture, make into syrups or elixirs when autumn comes.Pick the flowers when it is sunny and dry. A large basketful should enable you to make elderflower cordial, elderflower tea, Muscat jam and elderflower vinegar. If you want to dry elderflower for teas later on in the year or make a double infused oil or a tincture or a cooling “water” for your skin, you will need a second basket full or more!
Here are some recipes all the family can enjoy.
Elderflower TeaPick 2-4 elderflowers and place in a teapot or cafatiere.Pour over just boiled water, replace the lid and let steep for 10 minutes, strain and enjoy. The tea is naturally sweet and refreshing. You can try mixing elderflower with other herbs such as lemon balm or mint, but I prefer it on its own. |
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Elderflower Cordial(This is basically Sophie Grigson’s recipe without the citric acid)20 elderflower heads (I forgot to keep counting and used half of the basketful I’d gathered) 4 lemons 2 oranges 1.8 kg granulated sugar 1.2l water Place the sugar in the water in a saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring until all the sugar is dissolved. While the water is heating, place the elderflowers in a large bowl and cut the zest off the oranges and lemons and add to elderflowers. Cut the ends off the citrus fruit and discard, then slice and add to contents of bowl. Pour the boiling sugar syrup over the elderflowers and citrus fruits. Cover the bowl and place in a cool place for 24 hours. I put a plate on the top of the bowl to keep the citrus fruit submerged in the syrup. After 24 hours strain (eat the orange slices – they are amazing!). Strain twice more using either muslin or kitchen paper. Makes 4 pints of cordial. Pour into sterilized glass jars or plastic jars and freeze. Keep in the fridge and dilute to taste. It tastes good with fizzy water. Serve in glass jugs with slices of lemon and a sprig of mint. |
Gooseberry Fool with Elderflowers
6-8 elderflowers½ pint gooseberry puree
½ pint thick custard (made up as per instructions below)
½ pint double cream
1 sachet of gelatine (dissolved in juice of half a lemon and 1/4pint hot water)
Method: Shake elderflowers to remove unwanted guests. Make gooseberry puree by pouring enough gooseberries to fill a pint jug into a saucepan with the elderflowers, cover with small amount of water and sugar to taste (amount of sugar can be reduced by cooking with Sweet Cicely leaves). Simmer until fruit is very soft. Remove elderflowers. Rub gooseberries and juice through a plastic sieve. This should give you half a pint of puree. Cool Pour half a pint of milk into a saucepan leaving a drop in the bottom of the jug in which you have measured the milk to mix with custard powder. Add a heaped soup spoonful of custard powder and 4 tsp of sugar into the leftover milk and stir until if becomes a thin paste. Bring milk in the saucepan to the boil and when it is coming up to the top of the sides of the pan, pour it over the custard powder mix and stir vigorously. This should give you perfect thick custard. Cover the top of the jug with clingfilm and leave to cool. When gooseberry puree and custard are both cool, pour into a suitable bowl and add half a pint of cream. Mix together. Add dissolved gelatine and mix thoroughly. Leave in the fridge to set or pour into individual serving glasses before setting.
Muscat Flavoured Gooseberry Jam 2.7kg (6lbs) gooseberries
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 (Recipe from the Good Housekeeping Cookbook) |
Elderflower Vinegar
Fill a glass jar with a screwtop lid with dry elderflowers. Pour over cider vinegar. Remove air bubbles with a chopstick and re-fill jar with more cider vinegar ensuring that the elderflowers are completely covered. Close the jar firmly with screw top lid. Label and date. Place the jar in a warm, dark place for three weeks, shaking occasionally. Strain and bottle. Label and date.
Use for salad dressings or in washing water or make a cooling drink with 2 tsp vinegar and 2tsp honey in a mugful of boiling water.
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