Elderflower Cordial, is there any other kind?

So last night we continued a bit of elderflower harvesting from the local hedges. We love our elder cordial in this wee hoose. We take only enough flowers to leave the tree and other folks happy and take them carefully. If in doubt of identification, don't collect flowers, that's just silly, LOTS of things look like elder. Be careful! Happy to ID via a photograph (If I can) on the Wellybook Facebook page if you need! But there's a great 'How to ID an Elderflower' link here thanks to Gemma Garner for such an informative post.

Elderflower Cordial

Syrup

2lb sugar

1 pint water to a handful of lemon (in my case frozen sliced lemons unused at xmas and bagged up for a later use).

Heat up and make a syrup, then cool. 

35g of citric acid (add when mix is cold) 

10-20 elder flower heads (shake to remove bugs!). To each lot of syrup (cold syrup or they're rank and go brown) 

You just need to steep for 24-48 hours and then sieve, put into a sterilised vessel. 

If you don't have citric acid you can increase lemons, but it can be added afterwards (up to a year)

Multiple batches or large batches seem to work well. Old lemonade bottles can be used to store and you can strain after storage into a nice glass bottle if you've a mind.

Its so easy and we're still using last years (2013 batch) up, so we must be doing something right. We also had this as the toast in our forest wedding and as a non-alcoholic option for our party. Its fabulous. Yes we COULD make wine, but we prefer the cordial, I think its much nicer and such a 'summer' fix in the cold months.

Enjoy. 

Various supermarkets have sugar at 68p/kilo, so given the price of the cordial in the shops, this recipe WILL endeavour to save you a fortune. But be prepared for it to be one of the only cordials the family favours.

A more haiversome version of this recipe and on collecting flowers is here. 

You've been warned, its haivertastic with bells on. Happy cordial making people!

Island living - boats, wildflowers and heading 'sooth'

For those of us fortunate enough to live on an island, I guess one thing that features heavily in life is the 'boat' or ferry I guess you'd call it. I'm off on one tonight, 'sooth' to Aberdeen (leaves late, almost at midnight) to go down overnight to the mainalnd of Scotland and retrieve continue down the rest of the 300 miles to collect the children from the airport in Edinburgh. They are returning home from their dads after a long summer away, I'm predicting was better than our own. Well, being in central France you'd certainly hope so, eh? I wonder how they'll find it being home, they might need a jumper or too!? How I've missed them both and our little adventures here.

Can't wait for one of these from both of them!

However, whilst they've been gone, here in Orkney, nothing much has changed over the summer, except maybe the flowers on the track to the house, I'd say the 'drive' but lets face it, we're not that posh, its a farm track!

Now we've been down here several times before, the last time when the track was beseiged with orchids, lots and lots of wild orchids in May......

 

Wild orchid

And, then in June, with free range chickens, when the glorious buttercups truly were resplendant and the chickens were too!

Creeping buttercups (Ranunculus repens) and Einstein the cockeral

I like the track doon tae the hoose, it changes relatively slowly over the seasons I've found but its a nice mix of native plants with the odd couple of planted 'garden' plants popped in along the way. Right now its dominated by meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria) and the smell of the sweet flowers is heady and vivid.

Meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria)

The wild Angelica (Angelica syvestris), so architectural, it keeps its seed heads well into the winter.......

Wild Angelica (Angelica syvestris)

..... and the heather (Calluna vulgaris) is coming into bloom too.......making the hills slowly turn from brown to purple, for a few weeks, a truly breathtaking sight.

Heather (Calluna vulgaris)

Heather (Calluna vulgaris), a closer look

......with other little delights dotted in here and there down the length of the track verges in a little mosaic of colour and textures......Devils bit scabious (Succisa pratensis) which I think look like tiny blue raspberries until you get closer........

Devils bit scabious (Succisa pratensis)

 ..........which open to the most beautiful flowers captured not by me but by a keen and amazing botanical photographer on the western isles, thank you for the use of this lovely picture below, much appreciated.

Devils bit scabious (Succisa pratensis), close up.

White clover (Trifolium repens).................

White clover (Trifolium repens)

 Creeping buttercups (Ranuculus repens) have been a star through out the spring right into summer, slowly theyve lost their dominance as the summer flowers have muscled in.....

Creeping buttercups (Ranuculus repens)

 And, the meadow vetchling (Lathyrus pratensis) tumbling through the surrounding plants popping a beautiful yellow head out....

Meadow vetchling (Lathyrus pratensis)

And, the inbetween it nestles the Tufted Vetch (Vicia Cracca)

Tufted Vetch (Vicia Cracca)

Now, I've by no means taken photos of 'every' plant doon the traak, but maybe one day, for now I've a bag to pack and a boat to catch this evening.

Wonder when I'll catch sight of my first tree tomorrow? Janet at planticru is so right, you don't realise how much you miss trees until you get back on the mainland and get your first glimpse of them, can't wait, lets hope for a calm sailing, both ways!