I don’t drink enough. That’s a sentence that my boyfriends hears a lot lately. Evertime at night. In bed. When my thoughts start to wander and it’s too late to do anything about it. In winter I drink tea. A lot. Black, green, fruit and herbal tea. Everything. In summer it’s more tricky. Ice tea takes a lot of preparation and foresight. Not for me. I’m also not into lemonade. Too sweet. I rather like syrups that I can mix for my own taste. Well syrups are actually the only alternative to water in summer (when it comes to non-alcoholic drinks – alcohol is a total different story!). However I don’t want to buy them because you never now what preservatives, artificial flavours and/or colours are in there. (You could read the label but that would probably depress me.)

That’s why I got this recipe for elder syrup from my mother. It’s so easily made and only takes about 15 mins of your time in total – waiting time not included.

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All you need for around 3 litres of elder syrup:

– 2 kg sugar
– 2 litres of water
– 3 Tbsp citric acid
– 15 blossoms of elder

Elder_blossoms_for_syrup

Heat the water in a big saucepan and add the sugar. Stir it until the sugar is completely dissolved. Put aside and let it cool down completely to room temperature. Add the elder blossoms and stir. Now the mixture should sit for 2 days, 3 days maximum. Stir in the citric acid. I used 3 heaping tablespoons but you can taste along as you mix it in. Don’t use to much acid though as it will become a little unhealthy. Then sieve the syrup into large bottles and voilá. You can drink it directly. Just add about 1 cm of syrup into a 250 ml glass and add cold water. With a little lemon and mint it makes the perfect summer drink to beat the heat.

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Look what refreshing syrup I made:

elder_syrup_glass

Some tipps on the side: Don’t use less sugar as it will start to ferment and blow off. Literally. A friend had this problem and it’s not nice to clean your whole storage room from this sticky stuff. Also don’t add to many more blossoms as it will become cloudy and bitter. This recipe has been tested over many years!

I probably don’t have to tell you that this makes also a good present for friends and family… Just in case you’re invited to a summer party/picnic/event: you can add the syrup also to prosecco.

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Now. Carry on!