This is how to make the tastiest elderflower syrup (and cocktails)!
June is the month to make elderflower syrup. The limo is a hit with all children and adults alike. Because with a touch of prosecco, you make the tastiest summer cocktails. I share my recipe and approach for 2-3 big bottles of syrup. Note that you need two days to prepare it due to a waiting period.
Kitchenware
- (fabric) bag
- scissors
- 2 large pans
- cutting board
- vegetable knife
- scale
- funnel(No funnel? Make a funnel out of a PET bottle.)
- tea towel or thin cloth
- various sterilised bottles with cap(such as old lemonade or wine bottles)
Ingredients
- 20-30 screens elderflower (in about 2 litres of water later)
- 2 (organic) sliced lemons
- 1 kg sugar
- tap water
- 20 gr citric acid per litre (= for long shelf life and flavour)
- Optional herbs and spices such as cinnamon mint, strawberries, rose petals and ginger
Instructions
- Pick the flower heads in the morning. When you get home, cut the flowers from the stems. If necessary, shake the flowers lightly to remove dirt, but make them not clean with water (then it loses flavour).
- Put the umbels in a large pan or bucket. Then add water until the blossom is exactly submerged. The blossom tends to float. If necessary, put something heavy on top, such as a plate. That way, all the blossoms will remain under water. Put the pan or bucket away for 24 hours.
- After 24 hours, pour the contents of the pan through a sieve (and collect it in a second pan). Discard the flowers. Repeat this process: then pour the water back into the other pan through a tea towel or hydrophilic cloth once more to get it really clear.
- Put about 2 litres of this flower water in a pan, chop and add the lemon, add 1 kg of sugar. Optionally, you can also add mint, strawberries, rose petals, cinnamon, ginger and other spices to make syrup with a twist. My advice is: start with a good basic elderflower syrup first. Is it successful? Then possibly make another batch with a twist.
- Heat the mixture. Make sure it does not boil or it will lose flavour. Keep stirring so that the sugar dissolves well. Also add citric acid at this stage and keep stirring.
- Sterilise the fleesen (and don't forget the cap). Sterilise: pour boiling water over the bottle and then put the bottle in an oven at 100°C for 10 minutes.
- Pour the hot syrup into the bottles with a funnel and seal them immediately. Let them cool down. Don't have a funnel? You can make your own funnel by cutting the bottom of a plastic soft drink bottle.
- Store the bottles of syrup in the fridge. It is quite normal if you see sediment at the bottom of the bottle, this is pollen from the flowers.