Home made Elderflower Cordial (Homemade Non-alcoholic Drinks)

Member Name: paulpry118

Product:	Homemade Non-alcoholic Drinks
Date:	14/06/09 (252 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap, Quick and Easy to make

Disadvantages: Getting hold of the Citric Acid

The sun is shining and I'm waiting for my husband to cook tea on the barbecue. In my hand is a glass of home-made iced Elderflower cordial, lovely.

It is very easy to make your own elderflower cordial especially for me as I live very rural, so I just take a summertime stroll around the local fields and come home with a carrier bag full of elderflower heads.

What you need for 3 litres of Cordial:

50 Elderflower Heads - Free from your local countryside
2.4 litres of water - free from your tap
1.8 kg granulated or caster sugar £1.70 or 1 kg of Silverspoon light granulated sugar (£1.50)
4 oranges sliced - Tesco Value £1.00 for 6
3 lemons sliced - Tesco Value 50p for 4
100g citric acid - cost £1.50



Shake off the Elderflower heads to remove any creepy crawlies.

Boil up the water and sugar in a large saucepan or boil your water in a kettle and pour into a large saucepan over the sugar, stir until the sugar has dissolved.

Remove from the heat.

Chuck in the sliced oranges, lemons, Elderflower heads.

Stir on the citric acid.

Cover and leave in infuse for about 24 hours I stir it occasionally when I walk past it.

This all takes around 5 minutes for it is very quick.

After 24 hours strain through a sieve lined with a clean tea towel and pour into clean plastic bottles and use.

To serve, pour a little of the cordial into a glass and top up with still or sparkling water, a slice of lemon and some ice cubes.

For an alcoholic twist pour in a measure of gin or vodka.

Perfect for relaxing in the evening sun.

This recipe costs around £4.50 for 3 litres, you can buy Elderflower cordial from Tesco for £1.83 for 50 cl so for 3 litres would cost you £10.98.

The only problem I had with making this cordial was getting hold of the Citric Acid. It is a controlled substance (me being Mrs Naive have no idea what is is used for) so is not readily available on the high street but some independent chemists sell it or you can buy Citric Acid from Home Brew sites on the internet.

Summary: Impress your friends with an Home made Cordial