While it's sad to say goodbye to the nice warm weather, there's something incredibly cosy and comforting about putting on a wooly cardigan and snuggling up with a nice cup of tea by the fire when the weather starts to turn cooler. For a tasty treat that's a bit different, why not try making your own elderberry cordial?
The following recipe can be served as a cordial with hot or cold water or used as a fruit coulis on top of yoghurt or in a rice pudding. If you're after something a bit stronger to take the edge off of a nasty cold, mix the cordial with whisky, lemon and hot water for a twist on a traditional hot toddy.
Ingredients
- 1 large bag of ripe juicy elderberries (around 1kg)
- 1kg Demerara Sugar (approx)
- 6 cloves
- 1-2 tsp Ground ginger or 6-8 strips of fresh ginger if you prefer
- 1 tsp Tartaric or Citric Acid to preserve
- Sterilised bottles to store
Directions
- Take a large bowl and a use a fork to remove the berries, put the berries in an oven proof dish and into a warming oven (around 100c) for around 1hr, until they soften slightly.
- Mash the berries to release the juice then transfer all to a muslin bag and leave to drain.
- Measure the juice in a jug, for every ½ litre of juice add 450g of sugar
- Place the fresh ginger & cloves in a hand tied muslin pouch and drop into the mixture (if using ground ginger drop into mixture with cloves and sieve at the end)
- Warm the mixture until all the sugar has dissolved and the liquid thickens, take out the muslin pouch and add the tartaric/citric acid, mix until dissolved.
- Sieve the mixture into clean sterilised bottles (store in a cool place for up to 1yr)
