EDIBLE WEEDS  nourish your wild wisdom
Follow us
  • Home
  • about
  • recipes
  • blog
  • free stuff
  • activities
  • praise
  • My book
    • wildly nourished
    • free preview
    • book reviews
    • spread the word
    • media page
  • shop
  • contact

5 delicious elder flower recipes (other than just syrup)

31/5/2013

11 Comments

 
Foto
Elder flower season has arrived. They are everywhere, and if you are trying to increase your foraging skills, now is the time. There is no excuse for not trying them.
So go out and get some flowers. You won't regret. 
If food can be poetry, elder flower definitely is.

Here are 5 inspiring elder flower recipes.
Foto
Elder flower vinegar

Well, of course you could just infuse apple cider vinegar or wine vinegar with elder flowers, and that would be great. But here's a more sophisticated way, based on a recipe from France that we make every year again and again. It makes a wonderful gift as well.

  • 2 cups elder flowers
  • 1 liter/ 4 cups white wine vinegar (or apple cider vinegar)
  • 1 spring onion, chopped
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 2 to 3 garlic cloves, chopped
  • a few black peppercorns (to taste)
  • 20 sprigs of flowering thyme
  • 15 sprigs of savory

Place all ingredients in a glass jar and cover with the vinegar. Let infuse for 6 weeks. Strain if desired and transfer to bottles with cork. Don't forget to label.

This vinegar has a long shelf life; when kept in a dark and cool place it will keep for at least a whole year, until there are new elder flowers for making another batch.

Foto
Elder flower champagne
  • 4 liters elder flowers (that's 16 cups)
  • 4,5 liter cold water (18 cups)
  • 1 lemon
  • 650 g sugar - (I use coconut nectar)
  • 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

Dissolve the sugar in a small amount of warm water and let stand to cool. Juice the lemons, chop the zest and place in a large jar with the elder flowers. Add the vinegar and the rest of the cold water. Let stand for 4 days.

Strain and pour in corked bottles. After 6 to 10 days, the champagne should have fermented naturally and is drinkable. Do test after 6 days to see that it does not get too fizzy. If it doesn't, let stand for another week: sometimes the natural yeast of the flowers is very slow to get going.

This elder flower champagne is a recipe from Roger Phillips' classic Wild Food. I can hardly wait for a sunny day to make this again this year.

Foto
Elder flower infused almond milk
  • 2 cups  elder flowers
  • 1 liter/4 cups water, plus extra for soaking the almonds
  • a handful of almonds
  • 2 medjool dates, pit removed

Soak the almonds in cold water.
Boil the 4 cups of water and pour over the elder flowers. Let both stand overnight, at room temperature.

Strain the almonds the day after.
Strain the elder flower infusion as well and combine with the almonds and dates in a blender. Blend thoroughly, strain again.

When drinking, close your eyes and feel in paradise.

Foto
Elder flower sorbet
  • 2 cups ripe gooseberries, topped and tailed (you can use strawberries instead)
  • 1 cup elder flowers
  • zest of 1 lemon (or 1 orange) - organic of course
  • 1 cup water
  • some honey
  • one ripe banana

Bring the water to a boil. Place the elder flowers and lemon zest in a jar and cover with the water. Let stand overnight, then strain. Add honey to taste. Put the liquid in a blender, combined with the fruit. After blending, pour in a freezer safe container and place in your freezer. When the sorbet starts to freeze around the edges, take it out of the freezer and stir with a fork to break up any frozen sections. Return to the freezer and repeat the process until the sorbet is completely frozen.

Foto
Elder flower pancakes
  • 8 elder flower umbels
  • 1 cup of almond milk (or use the elder flower infused almond milk from the recipe above)
  • 1/2 mashed banana
  • 1 cup rice flour
  • a pinch of vanilla
  • coconut oil

Remove the tiny flowers from the stem. Mix all ingredients, except the elder flowers and the coconut oil. When mixed well, add the flowers to the batter and stir well. Bake in coconut oil.

Want it sweeter? Drizzle some honey on top!

11 Comments
Frieda
30/5/2013 07:33:31 pm

This is exaxtly what I needed to get me started with Elderflowers. Thank you so much!

Reply
Leaf link
30/5/2013 07:48:32 pm

You're very welcome :)

Reply
Nathalie
8/6/2013 04:10:02 am

Hello, Thank you so much for all your work and the recipes. I tried the elder flower pancake recipe this afternoon and I was not successful. The dough was too fluid and I could not turn over what should have been pancakes. I ended up cooking the mush anyway and making it into some kind of rice pudding... it was still delicious with some honey. How about making videos of all these recipes to help people like me who do not have a gift for cooking but would still like to try your wonderful recipes? I would probably realize what I did wrong and how to fix it this way...

Also, I am assuming that the same recipe could be used to make pancakes with other flowers. Like daisies for example... Is that correct?

Thank you!

Reply
Leaf link
10/6/2013 07:44:33 pm

Hi Nathalie,

Apparently there was a typo in the recipe. I'm so sorry about that! Rice flour should be 1 cup, not 1/2 cup. But I'm glad your troubleshooting skills worked and you ended up with something that was still good :)

Also: make sure your pan is hot. And I mean HOT :)
The first pancake is usually rubbish because the pan is not hot enough.

I'd love to make some more videos, but I'm in forager's peak season, teaching classes and wild weed walks on an almost daily basis. When things get a bit quieter here, I'll definitely come up with some more videos!

Reply
Frieda
28/6/2013 07:25:00 am

Ok, I made the elderflower/almond milk wich was great!
I also made the elderflower champagne, it has a great taste, but it came out very "syrupy" that made it so heavy that the bubbles had problems to appear... I had the same problem with a dandelion limonade I made. What could be the cause? I am using cane sugar and try to follow the recipy correctly for the rest. Any idea?

Reply
Leaf link
28/6/2013 05:25:34 pm

Frieda, when you were in the first phase (the first 4 days) did you put the lemonade in a closed bottle or somewhere with air contact? I usually cover my jars with cotton handkerchiefs, attached with a rubber band, for the first few days, so that air can come in and the fermentation process can start fully.

It also depends on the weather, though this year it has been quite warm and I had no problem with the fermentation process. In fact, it was my first home fermentation with coconut nectar and it went wild! I think stirring occasionally may help the fermentation process as well.

If the wine comes out too 'syrupy', maybe you could add some sparkling water - just a thought, but it feels like that would be a nice touch.

Reply
Sports bars in Singapore link
1/7/2013 09:23:43 pm

I am satisfied to find this article very useful for me, as it contains lot of valuable information. I always prefer to read the quality content and this thing I found in you publication. Thanks for sharing.

Reply
Leaf link
2/7/2013 04:38:14 pm

You're welcome!

Reply
SUZIE CARTER MADEJ link
19/10/2013 10:41:55 am

Hello Natalie,
Thank you so much for these recipes. I have just been accepted intoThe Irish School of Herbal Medicine and I live in Australia. My Linden plant has been at my backdoor for 40 years! I loved the flowers but never used them. Spring is here and I have so many flowers and all my daughters and myself are making your recipes for Xmas celebrations. Thank you again.
Suzie

Reply
Leaf link
20/10/2013 05:00:22 pm

Funny for me to read how you are going to make these now, while we are in the midst of nut time. Have a great elderflower Christmas ;)

Reply
Krystale
5/11/2016 10:56:46 am

I just got local dried flowers and berries as it is the first day of our indoorvwinter farmer's market here. Thank you for sharing recipes beyond the usual syrups, teas and vinegars! It's helped me feel more excited to try new things!

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Follow Me on Pin</div>



</div>

<div><div id=Wild Plant Forager
    Top Food Blogs

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    January 2015
    December 2014
    August 2014
    June 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012

    Categories

    All
    Foraging
    Foraging With Kids
    Plant Language
    Recipes
    Urban Foraging
    Videos

Copyright © www.wildplantforager.com 
Disclaimer: Any identification or usage of plants is your own responsibility.
Make sure to identify properly, use the right plant parts, pick from a safe place and use common sense.
Photos used under Creative Commons from Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, jacme31, Kent Wang, Dendroica cerulea, Gilgongo, wallygrom, glasseyes view, foxypar4, Sarah Cairncross, Khairil Zhafri, perpetualplum, Silversyrpher, Deanster1983, dichohecho, Rebecca-Lee, blumenbiene, Andrew Stawarz, Eran Finkle, K.Hurley, jenny downing, nociveglia, My Daily Sublime, Scarygami, blumenbiene, lilyrhoads, Albertas Agejevas, Jeroen Kransen, Dendroica cerulea, ~Brenda-Starr~, andrew_j_w, Shandchem, weisserstier, Wendell Smith, martinroell, Lennix3, treehouse1977, Steve Slater (Wildlife Encounters), anemoneprojectors (through the backlog), Jasmine&Roses, schaefer_rudolf, Peter aka anemoneprojectors - camera busted!, markpeate, Nuuuuuuuuuuul, Nuuuuuuuuuuul, Håkan Dahlström, John Tann, C_Baltrusch, jenny downing, Stéfan, Madzik, anemoneprojectors (through the backlog), markpeate, graibeard, Daniel Milford Flathagen, Morgaine, D.Eickhoff