Summer cordial fresh blend

A selection of flowers and leaves from Deanna's herb garden and wild meadow to make a delicious summer cordial.

With Elderflower, rose, basil mint and lemon balm, this freshly picked collection will provide you with a much deserved mid-summer treat.

Suggestions for use:

Recipe

60g of fresh Elderflowers (snip off from the bigger stalks)
1 fresh Rose
A small handful of fresh Basil Mint (or any mint)
A large handful of fresh Lemon Balm
1 Lemon
200g Sugar
4 tablespoons Honey
1 litre of Water

Bring the water, honey and sugar to the boil and simmer for a few minutes before taking off the heat. You may want to gently wash the flowers and leaves before you add them to the pan or just brush or shake off any obvious insects or dirt.

Make sure you poke all the herbs down so they are submerged in the liquid. Add the lemon in thin slices and add a bit extra juice form another if you want. Cover and leave overnight for the magic to happen.

Next morning, lift the lid of the pan, get in close and breathe in deeply to inhale those blissful aromas. Strain off the herbs and put them on the compost. You now have a cordial which you can store in capped bottles in the fridge for up to 7 days, 

I prefer to use fresh flowers and leaves where possible but dried are fine to use, just use around half the quantity of the dried herb or flower as they are more concentrated and often change in flavour.

You can obviously follow any other recipes you may have with the same ingredients. Other tweaks could involve using more sugar, using less water to make a stronger cordial concentrate, simmering the syrup for longer to make a more viscous trickly dessert treat etc.

If you are following a low sugar diet, follow the recipe but omit the sugar and honey and drink as a tea instead with a squeeze of fresh lemon, or leave to cool in the fridge, add crushed ice and fresh cucumber slices and enjoy the most delicious iced tea ever!!! Life is good!

For information purposes only

Deanna says:

Cordials were traditionally made as plant based tonic drinks, more usually seen as being beneficial to the heart (“Cor” meaning heart in Latin) but also boosting the spirit and improving general vitality

Deanna's blog covering her views for information purposes only is below. 

https://thewildpharma.wordpress.com/2021/07/05/wild-summer-cordial-recipe-my-biome-box/