More spring drinks - Elderflower cordial

Elders are blooming in North West Tasmania, so its a race between me and my friend Ali to find the best bushes and pluck a few blooms to make cordial.

In my previous life as a medical herbalist, Elder (Sambucus nigra) was highly revered as a wonderful plant for hayfever. In fact David Hoffman says "The Elder tree is a veritable medicine chest..." The leaves used for bruises, wounds and chillblains; the flowers for colds, influenza, sinusitis and hayfever. Elder berries are useful in rheumatism.

I like the cordial for its relaxing properties, as a dash with champagne or in a very refreshing cocktail mixed with gin and soda water. Extremely medicinal on a warm Friday night on the deck after work. And in the winter its great as a hot toddy with some lemon juice if you are feeling down and out with a coldy lurgy.

So how to make this summery wintery deliciously flowery drink... the first thing you need to do is to find an elder tree (its really more like a bush).....

Pick 20 heads and give them a good shake before you put them in your bucket to get any lurking insects out of the flowers.

Place 1.8kg of white or castor sugar into a saucepan with 1.2 litres of water and stir while you bring to the boil.

Pare the skin of 2 lemons into wide strips and place in a bowl with the flowers. Slice the flesh of the lemons and add to the bowl.

Pour the boiling syrup over the flowers and lemon then stir in the citric acid. Try to make sure the flowers are covered with water. Cover the bowl and leave for 24 hours.

Strain through muslin and pour into sterilised (hot wash and heat in oven to dry) glass or plastic bottles and seal.

You can drink it straight away or give it to someone you like as an extra special suprise.

I am going to get my flowers this weekend from Rogers chook pen so I will let you know how I get on.

Next up......remember the explosions in the laundry cupboard when your mother used to brew ginger beer?

Fruit drinks for spring...

Rhubarb champagne - I made my first bottles last year and they were amazingly sucessful. Pale pink, lots of froth, rhubarb aromas and the delightful mystery of determining the alcohol content. Definitely worth a go Leah.

1kg of rhubarb (the redder the better)
3 cups of sugar
six teaspoons white vinegar
4 litres of water
2 lemons

Cut rhubarb into small pieces. Squeeze lemon and cut rind into small strips. Add lemon juice, rind and rest of ingredients to the rhubarb. (I used a v. large glass jar with a screw top lid for this bit).
Leave for 48 hours stirring occasionally.
Strain 3 times (through muslin - if you are buying new muslin, don't forget to give it a good wash in hot water before you use it for straining). Bottle and seal. I used screw top lemonade bottles but I left a good bit of room for gas in them. Leave two weeks to brew. NB The bottles I left for a couple of months were definitely superior in bubbles and taste than the ones we couldn't help ourselves drinking after two weeks.

The first...

"If I keep a green bough in my heart, the singing bird will come" Chinese proverb.