Elderflowers are easy to identify and are said to herald in the Summer. Well, you could have fooled me - it was the coldest, wettest, windiest and foggiest half term holiday since records began!
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| Is it a Bird? Is it a Plane? No, It's an Elder Bush! |
However, we remained undaunted and were soon out gathering a bagfull of the best Elderflower heads. We left plenty to develop into berries, not that this is really significant - Elderflowers are just about everywhere at the moment.
Our first expedition was to make Elderflower Cordial, my daughter’s favourite drink. We were in Devon at the time on a short break but the first bushes were spotted after only a short walk.
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| Mmmmm, Fragrant! |
It only took us a moment to collect enough and then rush back to begin preparation and within a short time we were all guzzling away at this sweet, delicate summertime drink.
The next foray was back on Southampton Common; it was raining this day, so the children chose to wear sensible shoes in the form of roller-skates!
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| And They're Off |
There are Elderflower bushes all over the common and they are currently in flower; the kids started spotting them as soon as they arrived. Consequently, it took no time at all to gather enough (you only need a few flower heads), so there was plenty of time to zoom about on wheels in the wet.
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| Clare Joined Us On Two Wheels |
With this batch we are making Elderflower Champagne, a delicious and simple to make summer evening drink. Just be sure to store it in suitable (pressure safe) bottles, otherwise you might get some unwelcome explosions.
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| All Over The Common |
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| Currently Fermenting Away Nicely |
Where we were staying, we couldn’t find any Citric Acid for our cordial (used as a preservative - obtained from chemist), nor did we measure out the other ingredient’s very accurately but it tasted lovely anyway.
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