Elderflowers everywhere

The hedgerows are full of elderflower blooms. Those scented clusters are just dripping off the trees so we have been picking, picking, picking flowers. We first started making our Elderflower Gin Liqueur a couple of years ago after a dear friend suggested a recipe for us. We made a small batch and took it out to a market. It sold out in 5 minutes so we repeated the recipe for the following market and again it sold out. We knew we were onto something.

This year the elderflowers are plentiful. It’s obviously been a good year and our kitchen is regularly filled with that distinct and delicious scent. We’ve played with the recipe several times but we always come back to that original spec that our friend recommended. It just works. The key ingredient for us is a little bit of fresh orange juice to cut through the potentially overpowering floral aroma.

For us, late May will always be elderflower time.