Elderflower Cordial

There is a bumper crop of elder flower this year, obviously elder trees love rain, cold and absence of the Yellow Stuff (I believe it is called sun).

I cropped 12 ripe wide open flowers from the elder which planted itself  in our garden and which is now 20 feet high and has ended the career of my rotary washing line.  The tree had of plenty of flowers to spare, and will have plenty of berries for the birds in the late summer.

I dissolved 1.5 kg of sugar in 5 litres of water, put in zest and juice of 3 lemons  dunked in the flowers, and covered it and left it to infuse in a cool dark place.   Magic, 24 hours later, aromatic elderflower syrup!  If you dare leave it 2 or 3 days, it tastes even stronger.  R insisted that I filter it (ie sieve out the odd stray floret and the lemon zest), I bottled it and kept it in the fridge (it only lasted a week - because we drank it).  I've just made some more with double the sugar and lemons, and bottled in sterilised bottles, to see if it will keep out of the fridge...watch this space for news.***

Elerflower is perported to be helpful in the following conditions  rheumatism, arthritis, and gout; upper respiratory stuff (colds; the flu; sinusitis; tonsillitis, sore throat; chills; fevers) and if taken at the onset of chicken pox or measles it helps by increasing sweating and speeding up the healing process.  They also act as a diuretic which helps to rid the kidneys of toxins.  

Not sure what happens when mixed with sugar,  but as it hasn't been heated it may well retain some interesting properties.

Update:  the cordial ferments after a week or so, and tastes even better, but if left longer turns to vinegar.  So stored remaining bottles in fridge, but none left now, as very popular with family.  A friend of mine who also made elderflower cordial this year, suggests freezing ice cubes of it to add to drinks and desserts.  Otherwise you could heat it to boiling point and seal like jam, but would no longer retain same properties I guess.

*** Update  It certainly kept a few weeks out of the fridge with 3 kg sugar, but could not test any longer as we drank it all up and wished we had made more.  It is now May 2014 and the elder is flowering again, will make more batches and do more experiments.