Elderflower

A quick intro

When the elderflower blooms in May and June, you can smell it in all Amsterdam parks. ‘De Tuinen van West’ are full with beautiful elder shrubs and we’ve also started to plant some in the ‘living hedge’ around our garden. Elderflower blossom is mainly used to make a delicious syrup, but you will also find some other recipes at the bottom of this page. Birds, especially starlings, love the elderberries that appear on the shrubs in late summer. You can also make syrup from the berries, but we like the intense and floral taste of the blossoms the best. You should not eat the leaves because they’re slightly poisonous. The stems don’t need to be removed when you use the blossoms to infuse water or vinegar but they’re not very good to eat.

Storage

It’s best not to store the elderflowers and to use the bunches for cooking or to make syrup within a day or two. If you must store them, do so in a tupperware in the refrigerator.

Season

May & June

Recipes

To make syrup from 1 bag of elderflower blossom, you can use this easy recipe. You will make about a litre of syrup with it. The citric acid is optional (it adds a nice freshness to the syrup and you can keep it a lot longer). You can find it in many Turkish stores.

Lisa’s elderflower fritters are delicious and very festive!

Elderflower vinegar is a nice discovery we made last year. It became one of our most beloved vinegars in our kitchen. A very easy recipe!

And of course it couldn't miss on this list: the Hugo cocktail with elderflower, prosecco and sparkling water! You’ll have to make the syrup first but this refreshing drink is worth the effort.

We think this easy honey infusion also sound quite tasty.

Here’s a website with a lot more recipes for those who would like to try something different and perhaps more challenging like fermented elderflower champagne.