Making delicious cordial is easy and simple. Elderberries like many other berries make for a great cordial for the winter time when days are dark and everybody can do with an extra boost of vitamins. This recipe will also work with elderflowers. We have a recipe for elderflower wine as well, the link is at the bottom of this page.
Elderberries grow in hedgerows and can be wild-crafted, so there is almost no need to plant them in your garden. However it would make picking much easier because you can keep the trees at a good height and you could plant different varieties. There is no harm in foraging for them and it’s good fun too, we like leaving the berries in the top of the trees for the birds anyway. We would suggest better not picking them beside busy roads just in case.
Recipe we use per gallon (4.5 liters) which makes about 25 liters of elderberry lemonade:
- 3KG of elderberries without the stalks (or 1 stuffed pint of elderflowers without stalks)
- 2KG of sugar
- 1 liter of water
(FOR INSTRUCTIONS SCROLL DOWN)
Basic Instructions:
- Pick elderberries and take off the stalks.
- Boil in large saucepan with 1 liter of water for a minimum of 20 minutes. (if using flowers simply poor boiling over them instead)
- Leave to cool for 24 hours and strain with muslin cloth.
- Heat close to the boiling point, add sugar and stir.
- Sterilize glass bottles and lids with boiling water, then fill with hot cordial using jug over a sink.
- Put towel over bottles cooling them slowly.
- Stores in fridge for months, consume within a week or so once opened.
- All Done! Enjoy with fizzy water and ice cubes!
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