Elderflower season
No it’s not.
That was so last month. Early May.
I know, I know. But I am mortified to have realised that I forgot to mention the flurry of harvesting and bottling that took place a few weeks back.
And I know why I didn’t post when I could. I forgot to go out one morning and snap pictures of the many huge elderflower bushes at the edge of the property.
We have a monster up near the eastern edge of the farm. And one below the potting shed.
Well there are about a dozen on the eastern edge of the property. But I kept thinking ‘I must go and snap a shot of the elderflowers to accompany this blog.’
And then the heatwave started, and five lovely houseguests needed to be catered for and entertained.
And Madame forgot.
You can glimpse one in flower in the background of this one above. (Even though I’m admiring the strimming of the path down to the terrace rather than the distant view of pale flowers on a shrub.)
But frankly I missed my chance. The season, I swear, lasted a week. Those little flowers turned in no time. Your next opportunity will be autumn when the berries are ripe.
Luckily I managed to make three batches of the cordial (see the recipe section on the website for the super easy recipe).
And as I ran out of bottles, half of the cordials went straight into ice cube trays. That’s a fun way to serve the drinks. And if you are out of stock of the citric acid, needed to preserve them, then straight into the ice cube trays and the freezer solves that problem.
And as both my neighbours were insanely busy and missed the picking season entirely, I set off the day after the mass exodus of guests delivering my loot.
A perfect way to get a walk and be a good egg at the same time.