Addictive and Refreshing Elderflower Sirup

I wasn’t sure about the right way of spelling sirup. Either sirup or syrup. So I googled it and found this:

Syrup is an alternative form of sirup.
As nouns the difference between syrup and sirup is that syrup is any thick liquid that is added to or poured over food as a flavoring and has a high sugar content also any viscous liquid while sirup is (obsolete) a thick and viscid liquid made from the juice of fruits, herbs, etc, boiled with sugar.

I decided on sirup because this is made from flowers and boiled with sugar, but I think I could also use syrup as you can pour this over pancakes or ice cream for instance as a flavoring. So whatever you prefer.

I don’t know if you are familiar with elderflower but I just love it. I love the smell of the hedges every early summer and the look of these beautiful flowers. And I like making things with stuff growing wild on the fields.

My grand-grandmother used to make elderflower sirup or more like an elderflower juice when I was little. We used to drink that really really cold on hot summer days and and it was amazing for us children, especially during those days in the communist times of Romania, when we didn’t have access to juices or soft drinks or stuff like that. And as a child one really loves stuff like that. 🙂

I made the juice as well this year, a recipe I got from my mother-in-law and I love it and will post it soon. But first this sirup. It is quite thick and sweet, so a little goes a long way. You can pour just a little bit of it in a glass and fill the rest with sparkling water and ice. Don’t forget to squeeze extra lemon or lime in the glass, it will give it an extra sourness, which I find great.

The sirup keeps very well and you can use it the year around either as mentioned above or as flavoring for sparkling wine or other drinks. You can use it as a sweetening or flavoring agent to make desserts or you can pour a little of it on your pancakes or ice cream.

When you pick the flowers find a hedge that is far away from the street.

The recipe can be easily doubled, I always do that. You don’t necessarily have to preserve the bottles, I do it just to be sure and because I normally make larger amounts of the sirup, that we cannot consume so quickly. If you only make one liter, don’t bother with preserving it, just keep it in the fridge.

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Elderflower Sirup

Prep time:  10 mins

Cook time:  5 mins

Total time:  15 mins

Serves: 1 liter bottle

Ingredients

• About 15-20 large elderflower
• 1 liter/ 4 cups water
• 1 kg/ 35 oz granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon citric acid
• 2 organic lemons

Instructions

1. Shake the flowers very well to remove dust or insects. You could rinse them, but do that very briefly and shake well afterwards.
2. Cut the lemons into thick slices. Place everything in a very large glass or plastic bowl, cover and leave for 3 days in a cool, dark place. A cool cellar would be best. Strain through a very fine strainer into a pot. Bring to boil and cook for 5 minutes. Pour hot into sterilized bottles.
3. Place a kitchen towel into a pot large enough to hold the bottles. Place the hot bottles inside and pour boiling water (from the kettle) into the pot. Bring to a boil again and let boil for 10 to 15 minutes, depending on the size of the bottles. Take the bottles out of the water, let cool and keep in the cellar or a dark, cool place.
4. After opening a bottle, store it in the refrigerator

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