There's just something about the Christmas season that inspires a flurry of homesteading in me. The homely smells, the satisfaction of producing homemade, the comradery of working with others. Oh so satisfying. We recently had the privilege of parking up with an awesome family who also enjoy homesteading and foraging. Having just completed a guided foraging outing with Peter Langlands from Wild Capture I was all inspired to put my new found knowledge to the test.
Given the abundance of Elderflower in Mid Canterbury at this time of year it seemed fitting that we should attempt our hand at some Elderberry Cordial and Homemade Herbal Tea. So it was up early in the morning with a bunch of enthusiastic foragers to collect the flowers found on the Elderberry bushes that grow along the riverside (always gather away from roadsides and ensure they haven't been sprayed).
It turned out those sneaky flowers were temptingly abundant because they were ridiculously unattainable! Much deep scrub and tricky blackberry prickles stood in our way (we'll be back for you later blackberries!!). However, undeterred we battled through and gathered.
It was then back home to wash, infuse, boil and bottle our beautiful cordial. Here is the recipe we used:
Elderflower Cordial
25 Elderflower heads
Finely grated zest of 3 lemons and 1 orange (keep Juice to add later, about 150ml.)
1kg sugar
1t (heaped) of citric acid (optional)
1.5L boiling water
Step 1)
Rinse and remove insects on flowers. Place in pot with 1.5 litres of boiling water, and lemon/orange zest.
Cover and leave to infuse overnight
Step 2)
Strain liquid through muslin, pour into saucepan.
Add lemon and orange juice, sugar and citric acid
Heat gently to dissolve sugar, bring to boil
Remove from heat and pour into sterilised bottle.
By raiding the local free recycling centre we were able to upcycle loads of beautiful bottles. Scrubbing off labels (by soaking and using De-Solv-It found at Mitre 10 etc) we then put them through the dishwasher and the oven to sterilise, and boiled the bottle lids. Adding some homemade labels polished the look and then ta-dah we had produced a beautiful homemade gift for Christmas. Well, that is, if I can hold out on not drinking it before then, because it is SO delicious.
You just add 1 part to 5 parts hot or cold water as a cordial or use soda water for extra yumminess. Or, freeze 1 part cordial to 3 parts water for ice-blocks. Seriously it is the taste of summer in a bottle!
Herbal Tea
Having become inspired by our success with the Elderflower cordial we then foraged once again to produce a divine Herbal Tea. This time we gathered and dehydrated elderflowers, yarrow flowers, chamomile flowers, lemon verbena and lemon balm. (as always ensure you always gather away from roadsides and ensure they haven't been sprayed).
After trialling 5 variations we settled on the following quantities for the yummiest, freshest calming tea ever.
Calming Herbal Tea
40% Elderflower
40% Lemon Verbena/Balm mix
10% Yarrow
10% Chamomile
De-bug the flowers, wash, dry then dehydrate until dried. Remove flowers from stems using a fork into each bowl, crush lemon balm and verbena together. Mix into another bowl to make up quantity required.
Add 1t to a tea leaf strainer, add hot water, infuse for 3-5 mins. Enjoy!
Again upcycling some little jars and adding homemade labels we produced another amazing gift.
Now driving through Canterbury all I can see out my bus window is flowering Elderberry bushes calling my name! Definitely going to have to brew another batch - it's amazing!
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