Well not literally hay but as close as you might get to making things from nature in an urban environment. The sun shone and it was hot and sunny for the first time in a long time this summer. No better time, I thought, than to make a refreshing elderflower drink from the trees that have been blooming away at the end of my garden and has upon it some elderflowers at their optimum – heady, perfumy in the peak of their blooming life- giving joy from above before the tiny flowers begin to fall to the ground below creating a summer “snow effect”
I have been waiting since the beginning of summer when they first started to bloom and when the time feels just right and the air is filled with their perfume on a sunny day I know it is time to swing into action and begin the process to make a very tasty and most refreshing summer drink. Drunk in your garden on a hot summers day it is only what I can imagine it is like being in paradise.
I got this recipe from a friend who is a natural master chef extrodinaire and her daughter, Alexandra, drew me up this pretty diagram to help me on my merry way to making the delicious summer drink, I find it a very useful reference picture in the potion making process.
All you you will need is
250 grams of sugar
6 heads of elderflower at their optimum blooming point
yeast
two to three non waxed lemons
2.5 litres of water
Here’s what to do
Put the sugar in a jar and add some warm water to melt the sugar
cut the lemons into chunks and squeeze the juice into the sugar and water
throw the remaining bits of lemon into the syrup mix
add the elderflowers and mix
add the yeast
fill the jar with 2.5 litres of water
cover the jar with a lid if it has one or just use a piece of kitchen roll and an elastic if not
mix (making sure you touch the bottom) three times a day and keep in a sunny spot
taste after four days it is has been sunny it will be ready if not leave for five days but no longer as the taste will turn bitter after this.
Strain through a sieve into a bowl, bottle it up and keep in fridge
simple and delicious!
(Making Elderflower cordial – this post was due to be published at the beginning of July but was not finished or published due to me being out of action so bear the time of year in mind if you decide to make this delicious summer drink)
