Springtime lemonade

I did mention a few weeks ago that I'd write about elderflower lemonade. As it turned out, I was worried that the elder flowers wouldn't oblige me by blooming before I head off on three weeks of travels next week but, thankfully, they are just beginning to open out now.

Yesterday evening I collected a bagfull (about the equivalent of a standard plastic supermarket bag) from the garden of our office and another bush across the road. I was just in time to get enough for making lemonade before a thunderstorm started. However, I got several savage insect bites which are still swollen and sore, despite several applications of gel.

The flowers have a lovely light honey-fragrance that works very well in summer drinks - subtle and not overpowering. There are several recipes for elderflower lemonade (not to mention elderflower wine and elderflower champagne) on the Internet. However, I've just adapted Delia Smith's homemade lemonade recipe. Essentally, you need 6 lemons, 1.4 l of boiling water and 150g sugar, as well as approximately a bag full of flowers (you can pick the clusters, stalks and all, where they join the branches). You peel the zest off the lemons carefully, avoiding taking any of the white pith as well. Then you squeeze the lemons into a bowl, adding the peel, sugar, flowers and boiling water. You press the flowers down to make sure they're more or less immersed, cover the bowl and leave overnight. In the morning you'll have a lovely lemony, flowery liquid, which you can strain through a sieve (you may decide to add more sugar).

On its own the lemonade is quite rich but it'd delicious when diluted with sparkling mineral water. If you like something a little sweeter (kids do) you could add it to white lemonade instead.

The flowers are only out for a few weeks so get out there now!