Only Recipes, by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Elderberry Flowers Syrup For this you will need 1 l of water, 1 kg of sugar, about a dozen elderberry flower heads, 30 g of citric acid and 3 organic lemons (I picked some juicy organic lemons from Regina's garden).  Wash and cut the lemons and put them in a pot with all the other ingredients (or in a large jar, if you have it). Let this mixture stand for three days, stirring from time to time. Don't go over three days or it may ferment. After this time filter the syrup through a muslin cloth, squeezing the lemons and flowers well. Boil the filtered syrup for 5 minutes, removing any possible scam forming at the top. Cool down and filter again, through a finer cotton cloth this time.  Bottle and use as a cordial (it is very thirst-quenching), or to flavour desserts (like  panna cotta or  blamanche ), ice cream, fruit salads and berries. Elder flower Tea I am drying the remaining flowers for tea. Dry them in the shade and keep them for w...

Pick the flowers from a tree that it is not too close to the road and traffic, and has not being sprayed with chemicals. Shake and clean (no need to wash in water) the elderberry flowers to make sure that there is no dirt (or insects). Mix 100g of plain flour with a tsp of icing sugar and enough cold water to make a light batter (a bit like tempura).  Pick the flowers heads by the stalk and drop into the batter, and then into hot oil. Fry, turning once, until the fritters are golden and crispy. Dust with icing sugar and fresh elderberry flowers, then serve, hot or cold.  Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©