Elderflower is the frothy white blossom of the elder tree, picked in early summer for cordial, fizz, fritters and gooseberry desserts. Only the flowers and cooked ripe berries are eaten.
What it is¶
Elderflowers are the flat, creamy-white sprays of tiny, five-petalled flowers produced by the elder, Sambucus nigra, in late May and June. The elder is a fast-growing shrub or small tree of hedgerows, woodland edges, railway banks and waste ground, abundant across Britain and most of Europe, and its flowering is one of the markers of early summer.
The scent of the flowers is the whole point: sweet, honeyed and heady, with notes often compared to muscat grapes, lychee and pear. Captured in sugar syrup, it becomes elderflower cordial, one of the most characteristic flavours of the British summer. The flowers are also battered and fried, fermented into a sparkling drink, and infused into creams, jellies and sorbets.
The same tree produces clusters of glossy purple-black elderberries in late summer. These are eaten only when ripe and cooked, in jams, syrups, pies and elderberry wine. The North American elder (Sambucus canadensis, often treated as a subspecies of S. nigra) is used in the same way.
Origins and history¶
Elder has been used for food, medicine and dye since prehistoric times, and it carries an unusually rich body of folklore. In Britain, Scandinavia and Germany it was associated with a protective spirit, the Elder Mother, and there was a widespread belief that it was unlucky to cut an elder, or burn its wood, without first asking her permission. These are folk traditions rather than history.
Elderflower drinks are old in several countries. English country households made elderflower wine and "champagne"; Romania has socată, a lightly fermented elderflower drink; Scandinavians make flädersaft (Swedish) and hyldeblomstsaft (Danish); and in Germany and Austria elderflower (Holunderblüte, Hollerblüte) is used for syrups and fritters. In Britain, commercial elderflower cordials became widely available from the 1980s onwards, and the flavour has since become a staple of soft drinks, sparkling wines and liqueurs, including French elderflower liqueurs. The Hugo, a spritz of prosecco, elderflower syrup, mint and lime, originated in South Tyrol in the 2000s.
Flavour and aroma¶
Fresh elderflowers smell sweet, floral and fruity, with muscat, lychee and pear notes and a faint green, almost catty edge in some trees. The scent varies noticeably from bush to bush, and some plants smell unpleasantly of cat or musty; always sniff before picking.
Cooking or long infusing in hot liquid dulls the aroma, so most recipes steep the flowers in cool or warm (not boiling) liquid.
In the kitchen¶
Picking. Choose heads on a warm, dry morning, when the flowers are fully open, creamy-white and fragrant, and the pollen is abundant. Avoid heads that are browning or dropping petals. Snip with a short length of stalk, carry them loosely in a basket, and use within a few hours. Do not wash them: the pollen carries much of the flavour. Shake out insects instead, and pick away from roadsides.
- Cordial. Pour 1.5 litres of boiling water over 1 kg sugar and stir until dissolved. When cooled to lukewarm, add about 20 large flower heads (trimmed of thick stalks), the grated zest and sliced flesh of 2 unwaxed lemons and 50 g citric acid. Cover and steep in a cool place for 24–48 hours, then strain through muslin and bottle in sterilised bottles. Keep in the fridge for several weeks or freeze in plastic bottles for a year. Dilute roughly 1 part to 10 with still or sparkling water.
- Elderflower champagne (or fizz). A lightly fermented drink of flowers, lemon, sugar, vinegar and water, relying on wild yeasts. It is a traditional English country recipe, but it produces a lot of pressure: use strong plastic bottles or proper swing-top bottles, release the pressure every day or two, and never use ordinary glass bottles with tight caps, which can explode.
- Fritters. Dip whole flower heads, held by the stalk, into a light batter (100 g flour, 150 ml sparkling water or beer, a pinch of salt, an egg), shake off the excess and fry in oil at 180 °C for about 1 minute until golden. Snip off the stalks, dust with icing sugar and eat at once. They are known as Hollerküchle or Holunderküchle in southern Germany and Austria.
- With gooseberries. Gooseberries and elderflowers are in season together, and the pairing is a classic of English cooking. Add a couple of flower heads, tied in muslin, to gooseberries as they stew for a fool, crumble or jam, and remove before serving; or add a splash of cordial.
- Creams, jellies and sorbets. Infuse flower heads in warm cream or sugar syrup for panna cotta, ice cream, sorbet or a jelly set with sparkling wine. Strip the flowers from the bitter green stalks with a fork first.
Buying and storing¶
Fresh flowers wilt and lose their scent within a day, so pick and use immediately. For later use, dry flower heads on paper in a warm, airy spot out of the sun until crisp, then rub the flowers off and store in an airtight jar for up to a year; the dried flowers are mostly used for tea. Cordial can be frozen in plastic bottles or ice-cube trays. See drying herbs.
Substitutes¶
There is no true substitute. A little muscat wine or lychee syrup gives a similar fruity-floral note in desserts. In infusions, sweet cicely adds a different sweet, aniseed fragrance, and sweet woodruff a hay-and-vanilla scent.
Pairs well with¶
Gooseberries, strawberries, rhubarb, apricots, peaches, lemons, cream and yoghurt, sparkling wine and gin, mint, lemon balm, lemon verbena, vanilla and ginger.
Growing your own¶
Elder is extremely easy to grow and fully hardy; in most British gardens the problem is stopping it rather than starting it. It grows in sun or part shade, in almost any soil.
- Starting. Take hardwood cuttings 20–30 cm long in autumn or winter and push them into the ground; most will root. Birds sow elderberry seedlings freely.
- Pruning. Cut back hard in late winter, removing some of the oldest stems, to keep it bushy and productive. It flowers on the previous year's wood, so do not cut everything back at once.
- Cultivars. Purple-leaved forms such as 'Black Lace' have pink flowers that make a pink-tinged cordial.
See foraging wild herbs.
Health and safety¶
Only two parts of the elder are eaten: the flowers, and the ripe berries, cooked.
- Cyanogenic glycosides. The leaves, stems, bark, roots, unripe (green) berries and the seeds of the berries contain cyanogenic glycosides such as sambunigrin, which can release hydrogen cyanide. Eating them raw can cause nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea, and larger amounts can be more serious. Do not use leaves or stems in cooking, and strip flower stalks back as far as practical.
- Berries. Use only fully ripe, dark berries, removed from their stalks, and cook them thoroughly; do not eat them raw in quantity.
- Identification. Elder is a woody shrub or tree. Do not confuse it with dwarf elder (Sambucus ebulus), a non-woody plant with poisonous berries, or with the flat white flower heads of hedgerow umbellifers such as hemlock and hogweed, which grow on soft stems and are dangerous. See poisonous lookalikes.
- Fermented drinks. Home-made elderflower champagne contains a little alcohol, and the bottles can burst under pressure.