We had a really awkward elderflower season this year as we had very windy and rainy weather right as the flowers were ready for harvest meaning many had been blown off and the pollen washed away. This can be annoying when making this syrup as the pollen is what gives the syrup its flavour and is why one should never wash the flowers!
This recipe uses stevia based sweetener in an attempt to reduce the amount of sugar used. It is also not a very sweet syrup meaning one uses a higher syrup-water ratio than usually. This can be changed by adding more sugar/sweetener. A very sweet syrup uses a ratio of 1L water to 1L sugar.
Ingredients:
- 30-40 Elderflowers (Fläder blommor)
- 1.2kg Sugar (Socker)
- 200-300g of stevia based sweetener (Sötströ)
- 2.5L Water (Vatten)
- 4 teaspoons Citric acid (Citronsyra)
- 2 pinches Sodium benzoate (2krm natriumbensoat)
- 2 Oranges
- 1 Lemon
Cut off as much of the flower stalks as possible to reduce bitterness in the syrup. Wash the oranges and lemon in hot water and slice them thinly.
In a large container (I used my largest 5L pot) layer your flowers and citrus slices.
The next step is to boil the water and sugar + sweetener until all the sugar is dissolved. Add the sodium benzoate and citric acid and stir well. Turn off the heat and let it sit for a minute.
Carefully pour the hot liquid over the flowers. Let the pot cool down and then store in the fridge for around 3 days.
After the syrup has had time to infuse, carefully remove all the larger items and pour the syrup through a strainer followed by a finer straining method – anything from a fine sieve to a cheese cloth can be used depending on your preference.
Fill the syrup into disinfected bottles and store in the fridge.
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