Elderflower cordial season again

Today Mark snaffled the first twelve blooms of elderflowers from our garden for me to make the first batch of cordial for the year. We still have just one litre or so left from the 2004 vintage, so we've done well to make it last.

The recipe is so easy:

1 lemon. Grate the rind and slice the fruit
35g citric acid powder (the most challenging ingredient, requiring a personal reference to buy it from the chemist!)
900g sugar
10 elderflower heads
750ml boiling water

Put the sugar in a large bowl and pour on boiling water. Stir to dissolve. Add the grated lemon rind, the rest of the lemon, the citric acid and the flower heads. Leave for 24 hours, stirring occasionally. Sieve through muslin, pour into clean bottles and seal with screwtop caps. Keeps for six months, or you can freeze it as we did, in plastic tubs - leaving room for expansion.

Sad memories as I make it this year, for it was whilst standing at the counter, straining the finished cordial last year, that we had the phone call from Cyprus telling us that Daddy had died. These associations are so hard to manage - but we have so many happy memories that I'm hopeful that with time, they will take the place of the sad ones.

This first bottle's for you, Daddy. Cheers!

(Originally posted by Gill)