April always amazes me. Magically, flowers bloom everywhere. The trees are white or pink ephemeral scented clouds and new fresh green leaves appear. Nature comes back to life and it is really energizing!
Today we are sharing a delightful recipe to bottle up some of April’s blooms, an easy and delicious elderflower syrup.
Elderflower trees grow wild almost everywhere and they are blooming in April. Don’t miss this year’s flowers and get a lot of delicious home made drinks for Summer.
Ingredients:
- 25 elderflowers umbels
- 2 organic lemons and one orange (zests and juices)
- 1kg, 5 cups white sugar
- 1 tablespoon citric acid
- 1, 5 l water
- 3 or 4 very clean glass bottles
Method:
- Pick the elderflowers umbels and keep them in a plastic bag or a big glass jar in the fridge if you can’t use them immediately. (One day maximum in the fridge).
- Remove the tiny insects (yes!) from the flowers and delicately remove the flowers from the stems. You can do this with your children, it takes a little bit of time, perfect while chatting together!
- When the flowers are ready, place them in a large glass bowl with the zests and add 1,5l of boiling water.
- Cover and let infuse all night long.
- Strain the flower - water - zests mixture to keep only the infused water and put it in a large saucepan.
- Add the citric acid, the orange and lemons juices and the sugar.
- On low heat, stir to dissolve the sugar and then bring to a boil and let cook a few minutes.
- Put the syrup in the sterilized bottles and let cool down. Then keep in a dark place or in the fridge once opened.
- Super delicious in your fruit salads or as a syrup with cold water as a simple, refreshing homemade drink!
