Homemade elderflower cordial is a floral lemon syrup made by steeping fresh elderflower heads in sugar syrup with lemon and citric acid for 24 hours, then straining it into bottles. Stir a little into sparkling water for a spritz, or into lemonade and iced tea. This recipe makes about 1.5 litres.
Elderflower cordial is the bottle I wish more people kept in the refrigerator. It tastes like spring without trying too hard. It’s floral, lemony, a little green, and just sweet enough to make a glass of sparkling water feel like a treat.
You can buy elderflower syrup, and some bottled versions are good. Homemade has a softer edge, though. It tastes less like candy and more like flowers steeped on your counter, which is what it is.
The only catch is timing. Elderflowers show up for a short window and don’t wait around. If you find clean, fragrant blossoms, make the cordial that day or the next.
At a Glance
| Detail | Info |
|---|---|
| Prep time | 20 minutes |
| Steep time | 24 hours |
| Yield | About 1.5 litres (6 cups) |
| Flavor | Floral, lemony, lightly honeyed |
| Best uses | Sparkling water, lemonade, iced tea , spritzes, gin drinks |
| Storage | Refrigerator |
| Keep | Refrigerate once opened |
What Elderflower Cordial Tastes Like
Elderflower is floral, but not soapy the way some flowers can be. Good elderflower tastes like lemon peel, pear, honey, and a little fresh grass. It’s delicate, so the recipe needs no spices or extra herbs.
The lemon keeps the syrup from tasting flat and gives the flowers something bright to lean against. The citric acid adds a clean snap at the finish, which is especially nice in sparkling water or iced tea.
Foraging Note
Only use elderflowers you can identify confidently. Pick from clean areas away from roadsides, sprayed yards, and places where dogs wander through. Use the creamy white flower clusters, not leaves, bark, roots, or thick stems.
Shake the flowers gently outside to get rid of tiny insects. I skip rinsing unless they’re dusty, because water knocks off some of the fragrance. If you do rinse them, be quick and let them drain well.
Ingredients
- 1.8 kg (about 9 cups) granulated sugar
- 1.2 litres (about 5 cups) water
- 20 clean, insect-free elderflower heads
- 2 lemons
- 75 g citric acid
Thin-skinned lemons are best. Thick white pith can turn the cordial a little bitter after a long steep.
Make the Cordial
Dissolve the sugar in the water over gentle heat, then bring it to a simmer. Stir until no grains remain.
While the syrup heats, shake the elderflower heads gently to loosen any insects and put them in a large heat-safe bowl. Peel wide strips of zest from the lemons with a vegetable peeler and add them to the bowl. Slice the zested lemons and add them as well.
Pour the hot syrup over the flowers, zest and lemon slices. Add the citric acid and stir well. Cover the bowl and leave it in a cool place to infuse for 24 hours.
Strain through muslin or a cloth-lined sieve into clean, sterilised bottles. Do not squeeze too hard, or you can push bitter bits through. Refrigerate once opened.
How to Use It
For a spritz, mix about one part cordial with five parts sparkling water, then adjust to taste. Adding more is easier than rescuing a drink that tastes like syrup.
It’s also lovely stirred into lemonade (cut back the sugar in the lemonade) or iced tea, whether black, green, mint or chamomile. It goes well with cucumber, strawberry, peach, basil, mint and lime.
For cocktails, use it anywhere you’d use a floral syrup, such as gin spritzes, vodka sodas, French 75-style drinks, white wine spritzers, and low-alcohol porch drinks.
Storage
Keep the cordial in clean bottles in the refrigerator once opened. If it smells fermented, grows anything, turns cloudy in a strange way, or the cap hisses hard when opened, throw it out.
Use clean bottles and clean hands, and a funnel helps. So does writing the date on the label, because cordial has a way of disappearing behind the pickles.
Easy Variations
Elderflower lime cordial: Use one lemon and one lime. It’s sharper and better with sparkling water.
Elderflower mint cordial: Add a small handful of fresh mint for the last couple of hours only. Mint takes over if it steeps overnight.
My Favorite Glass
Fill a tall glass with ice. Add one part elderflower cordial and five parts sparkling water, then stir once. Add a cucumber ribbon or a mint sprig if you have one.
That’s the whole drink. It tastes like you did more.
