Elderflower syrup

Ok – now I’m feeling as if I’ve definitely entered hedgewitch territory. Today I made elderberry syrup.

One day we’ll have enough elderberries in our newly planted hedges to make elderberry syrup from our own fresh berries, but for now I’ve used dried ones.

Full of vitamins and antioxidants, it may look blacker than a demons heart but it’s actually full of health-giving goodness. Trust me.

It’s a simple enough process. Simmer elderberries with water to make a black, mushy juice.

Then drain and squeeze to extract as much juice as possible.

Once the remaining pulp is as dry as you can get it, looking like dark purple coffee grounds, pop the extracted juice back into a pan.

Add a few lemon slices, cinnamon, ginger root, honey and cardamom (the recipe uses cloves but I don’t like them) and simmer some more.

Then strain into a sterilised bottle or jar.

Despite extra simmering my syrup never actually achieved peak syrupyness. It’s more like a cordial to be truthful. But I’m sure that it will help us repel bugs over the winter with its dark, inky immune boosting goodness.