Holunderblütensirup

Elderflowers and elderberries are one of my loves of being in Germany. While wildly common over much of Europe, elderbushes are seldom seen where I come from in the Pacific Northwest. Too bad, because they make such delicious syrups and jams and Grütze and ice cream and and... The berries are high in antioxidents, and syrup or extract of the berries is often used over here as a folk treatment for the flu or colds -- the way we use Emergen-C or Airborne or echinacea in the US.

If you're in Germany, this is the right time to find elderflowers blooming. In our area, Holderbüsche line bike paths and roadways, and are scattered alongside the fences enclosing horses or goats. They are as common as overgrown thickets of blackberries back home. But unlike blackberries, they won't bite.


Several days ago, Johann and I brought a basket and a pair of shears along for an evening walk along the Ribnitzer See. We snipped off 8 to 10 elderflower umbels from each bush we passed. (Gotta leave some if you want berries at the end of the summer!) By the end of our walk, our basket was full of flowers. Definitely more than we needed, but they smelled so good!

Back home, I set a pot of water with sugar (1:1 ratio) to warm up on the stove. Not to boil, but to get the sugar to fully dissolve into a simple syrup. Meanwhile, I rinsed the flowers with water to get any bugs or dust off. When the sugar was dissolved, I tossed the flowers in along with the juice and grated rinds of a couple lemons. I then covered the pot and put it aside to sit for several days.

The elderflowers infuse the syrup with a fresh floral taste and the lemons help both as a preservative and as a balance to the sweetness.

Delicious.

Today, I strained the syrup and bottled it up. Mixed with a little fizzy water and served cold, it makes a very refreshing summer drink. The syrup keeps well, and also makes a nice gift for friends and relatives. Make enough, and you should be set for the winter and through till the next burst of elderblossoms appear.

In a related note: I don't think we use flowers enough in our cooking. Rose water, orange flower water (an essential ingredient when baking Madeleines, in my opinion), and maybe some nasturtiums or pansy blossoms in a salad. Along with the elderflowers, that about it for us. That's not much. Perhaps this summer I can expand our repertoire...