• Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Snapchat
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

MsMarmiteLover

  • Food
    • Recipes
    • Vegetarian
    • Vegan
  • Travel
    • France
    • Italy
    • Spain
    • UK
  • Wine
  • Gardens
  • Supperclubs/Events
  • About
    • Published Articles
    • Books
  • Shop
    • Cart

Magical Elder

June 3, 2011 10 Comments Filed Under: Food, Recipes, Uncategorized

The Elder tree grows almost like a weed in London. It’s associated with witches (they use it for their broomsticks), wizards (an Elder wand is the most powerful in Harry Potter), with death (turkey and peacocks will die if they consume the berries) and Judas reputedly hung himself from an Elder tree. It also has medicinal properties; a possible cure for flu, syphillis and mucus. 
The umbrella shaped white blooms are ready to be picked now, at the Pagan spring festival of Beltane. Pick these lemony almost gooseberry scented flowers in the morning, rather. In the afternoon they can  start to smell a bit like cat’s piss. 
The berries will be ready in September, for Samhain, or Halloween. 
Elderflower Cordial recipe

Elderflower Cordial recipe


1.8 kg sugar (any kind)
1.2 litres of boiling water 
4 unwaxed lemons, zested and sliced
15 – 20 elderflower heads (shaken but unwashed – water gets rid of the pollen/flavour)
50g of citric acid (I’ve seen this in Ikea and Indian shops but if you can’t get it, just skip it)
Heat the sugar and water to make a syrup. 
Pour the boiling water over the sliced lemons, zest, and elderflower heads.  
Add the citric acid. 
Leave to steep for 24 hours.
Strain the cordial through a sieve or chinois and then through cheesecloth.
Heat it again to boiling (don’t burn it!) and bottle it in bottles fresh out of the dishwasher while its hot (otherwise mould grows at the top of the bottles!)
Enjoy with champagne, or Victoria Moore’s suggestion, with white wine spritzer, or drizzled over icecream, or in desserts.
Elderflowers are also good in savoury dishes. Here is a recipe from my book: 

Elderflower Fritters recipe


8 to 12 elderflower heads
Oil for deep frying
Batter:
1 egg, beaten
200g sifted plain flour,
20g corn flour
180ml soda water or sparkling water, chilled
Sea salt, to taste

Mix all the batter ingredients in a bowl, salt to taste. Don’t overwhisk the batter as it will become too tough.
Heat the oil in a deep fat fryer to around 190C. Dip the elderflowers lightly in the batter, then deep fry until lightly golden. Sprinkle with a little sea salt and serve immediately.


Option: sweet Elderflower fritters. Replace the salt with sugar and sprinkle with sugar. 

Elderflower Champagne recipe
A subtly flavoured soft drink. This again is in my book under the ‘flower menu’.

Elderflower Champagne recipe


Makes about 4 litres. Allow 2 to 4 days for this process.
3.5l of boiling water plus 500ml of cold water
1 kg of sugar
20 Elderflower heads
1 tbsp of white wine vinegar
4 unwaxed lemons, zest and juice
Pinch of fast action dried yeast

Pour the boiling water in a saucepan or bucket, add the sugar until dissolved. Then add the cold water, the Elderflowers, the white wine vinegar, the lemons.
Let it cool. Add the yeast.
Cover and leave to ferment for 2 to 4 days. 
Strain into a fresh container using a cheesecloth or chinois. Then funnel it into sterilised bottles. 
Keep in a cool place. Bottles can be either swing top or plastic. Leave room at the top for the gas to expand. If it’s getting too fizzy put it in the fridge. Serve cold, will last a year.

Elderflower Cheesecake recipe

Elderflower Cheesecake recipe

150g digestive biscuits, crushed
75g butter, melted
100g caster sugar
225g cream cheese
1 vanilla pod, seeds scraped out or a few drops of vanilla essence
50ml elderflower cordial
225ml whipping cream, whipped 
Elderflowers, to garnish (optional)

In a bowl, mix together the crushed biscuits and melted butter. Press this mixture into the bottom of each of six glass ramekins.
Bring the sugar to the boil in a pan. Let it cool.
In a separate bowl, beat the cream cheese vanilla seeds, cooled sugar mixture and elderflower cordial together. Fold in the whipped cream.
Spoon the mixture into the ramekins and garnish with a sprig of elderflower.

Recent posts

Blueberry galette recipe

July 14, 2025

High protein recipes: roast tofu block

July 2, 2025

Sour cherry and rose ice cream recipe

June 28, 2025

Previous Post: « The Purple One
Next Post: Comedy last night »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Gerry Snape

    June 3, 2011 at 8:24 pm

    some fantastic recipes in this post. Thankyou for reminding me of all the many uses of elderflowers. the warm sun today made the garden smell of the spicey lemony taste of my elder trees. Lovely!

    Reply
  2. Vanessa Kimbell

    June 3, 2011 at 9:04 pm

    There are lots of blog posts about elderflowers at the moment .. but this one has the brilliant extra ingredient of fascinating facts about the history of elderflower & some fab photo's too.

    Reply
  3. The Curious Cat

    June 3, 2011 at 9:48 pm

    I've been meaning to go elderflower wild this year but somehow life has just been too busy. Everyone is now going on about it on their blogs and I'm feeling a tad bit jealous…oh well…next year I guess! xxx

    Reply
  4. Blue Shed Thinking

    June 4, 2011 at 9:06 am

    I make Elderflower Drizzle Cake. Stuff a teapot full of elderflowers and make a strong brew. Make a syrup from the tea, and pour it over a plain sponge cake. Leave for a few hours.

    Try to save some of the syrup to make a buttercream topping and / or filling.

    Reply
  5. Raelina

    June 4, 2011 at 8:24 pm

    I adore elderflower but they flowered early this year and I never had chance to pick any! I'm so pleased you posted the fritter recipe as I only managed to collect 6 flowers today at Haggerston Park…! Thanks v much…

    Reply
  6. CellarDoor

    June 4, 2011 at 11:35 pm

    The elder wand is not "one of the most powerful", it's THE most powerful! Get it right!

    Reply
  7. Anonymous

    June 5, 2011 at 9:37 am

    Beautiful. Elderflower fritters sound awesome and as for the champagne…oof! I don't have any elderflower bushes near my house so will be embarking on some intrepid roadside foraging/thieving very soon! 🙂

    Reply
  8. Valentina

    June 7, 2011 at 9:32 pm

    I wish I knew how to recognize elderflower in the wild. Love the recipes in your post.got here through a friend of yours Aldrey.

    Reply
  9. theundergroundrestaurant

    June 7, 2011 at 9:55 pm

    `Hi valentina,
    the sprig on the cheesecake is the flower…smell it, it's so distinctive!
    x

    Reply
  10. Raelina

    June 11, 2011 at 8:52 pm

    I've just written a blog post about my magic elder fritters…thanks for the recipe! http://crockerycakesandcaffs.blogspot.com/

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar

MsMarmiteLover aka Kerstin Rodgers.

Chef, photographer, author, journalist, blogger. Pioneer of the supperclub movement.

This is my food and travel blog, with recipes, reviews and travel stories. I also stray into politics, feminism, gardening.

msmarmitelover

I wrote this long read for @scotnational about the I wrote this long read for @scotnational about the anti G8 camp in Stirling to protest against the G8 in Gleneagles. I partipated in the camp & protest along with my daughter @siennamarla playing in the samba band, part of the Pink Bloc. The camp was an incredible experience- the possibility of a different type of politics, of horizontal democracy. It was also a lot of fun. But our protest was tragically overshadowed by the 7/7 bombings in London. We wanted to create a new world but by the actions of a few disaffected British Muslim terrorists our positive movement for change was drowned out by hideous violence against normal ordinary people. Here is my account. 20 years anniversary #7/7 #londonbombings #scotland #antig8 #protest #gleneagles
Cheap stuff. Since the pandemic money has been tig Cheap stuff. Since the pandemic money has been tight. I shop at Lidl and aldi for food, Vinted, Portobello and Primark for clothes. The first pic is gazpacho with a banderilla from Lidl. They often have Spanish weeks and other nationality foods at a bargain price. I love those huge cartons of gazpacho- I glug it down like juice, especially in the heat. The banderillas are sold by the jar. Second pic is me in a primark vest, cardi, with an Anthropologie sale belt and old denim shorts from 10 years ago. Sorry about the mess behind, I sold a piece of furniture, a desk I found on the street, painted enamel green with ‘bamboo’brass handles which I sold on eBay for £225 #needsmust #thrift
My tea book Msmarmitelover’s secret tea party is My tea book Msmarmitelover’s secret tea party is now out on the cookbook app @ckbk it’s now out of print but you can still buy some print copies via me or Amazon. However you can see all the recipes ( like my sour cherry icecream which I served last week) on this site which is like a Spotify for cooks. Arguably afternoon tea is a meal which the English do better than any other country. #cookbooks #afternoontea #supperclubs
Saturdays midsummer supperclub was mostly a bbq on Saturdays midsummer supperclub was mostly a bbq on the @biggreenegguk I divided the meal into fragrance families: vegetal, fougere (fern), green notes, fresh: asparagus, garden artichokes on the bbq, dolmades made from my garden vine leaves. Then citrus fragrances with yuzu, 🍊 🍋 bergamot glaze, salmon, smoked tofu steaks, vegan smoked salmon carrot. Next spice which in perfume is oriental spices: bbq mini aubergines with paprika seed oil, home ground garam masala, a tahini caper dressing. Then wood and resinous fragrances using rosemary oil brushed bbq mini peppers, pine syrup on labneh, mushrooms a la grecque with juniper, finally the floral family of fragrance with sour cherry and rose icecream, lavender shortbread  hearts and orange flower water meringue kisses. It was a lively warm evening- children were welcome. There was a bonfire, lots of wine and laughter. I buy welding gloves £12 from Amazon  to use with the bbq. I also use @pomoragoodfood oils #london
With my home grown artichokes, grown from seed for With my home grown artichokes, grown from seed for tonight’s supperclub.
Sour cherries from the garden for my midsummer sup Sour cherries from the garden for my midsummer supperclub in the garden this Saturday 21st June. Tickets available, link in bio. Also at this link: https://substack.com/redirect/5a700a44-49c1-4e6d-834f-8d4851f98f45?j=eyJ1IjoiMWUzYm4ifQ.njFJL9K8WpzSqVZ5HFSvq84gnJeUD7reFZV9LrDwYtI #midsummernightsdream #supperclub #og #sourcherry
Can’t wait to delve into this by one of my favou Can’t wait to delve into this by one of my favourite food writers @kitchenbee it’s got everything: kitchenalia, divorce and food. Did you know that what we call heartache is actually stomach ache? It’s now recognised that rejection actually causes physical as well as psychological pain. A study shows that pain relief medications such as paracetamol can alleviate heartache. Some of our emotional pain is autonomic: it’s referred to as polyvagal theory. #heartbreak #foodwriting #lovehurts #takotsubo #dopaminewithdrawal
Midsummer supper club 21st June. The theme is frag Midsummer supper club 21st June. The theme is fragrance and scent. Tickets are £45  and you can bring your own drink. Starts 7.30pm and the nearest tube is Kilburn on the jubilee. Parking is free outside. Exact address given on booking. https://msmarmitelover.com/product/midsummer-supper-club-2025-scent-and-fragrance #london #supperclub
Oil portraits of me painted at Burning Van festiva Oil portraits of me painted at Burning Van festival by artists @cristina_vercesi (left) and YouTube sensation and Royal Portrait gallery exhibiter @alex_tzavaras. It was an utter privilege to sit for these wonderful artists- a real highlight. I’m taking them home and framing them. It was easy to sit still for 90 minutes with the amazing DJ set @leonidas_lovetoparty More deets later. #portraiture #festivals #oilpainting
Went with influencers to @standrewslakes in Kent w Went with influencers to @standrewslakes in Kent with @ourfinland @lakelandfinland @pcagency to experience Finnish food such as Karelian pies with egg butter, cinnamon buns, blueberry pies, and pea soup which they have with mustard and sour cream. We did zip lining, kayaking, saunas, whipped ourselves with birch sticks, ate in a gorgeous wooden bbq shed @arctic_cabins at the end of all this activity we were all tired but happy. @miramakeup @holidaywiththeheathers @amie_jane__ @onehungryasian @iamtimchung @travellingtuesdays @helimendetravels @charlotteemilyprice #presstrip
@camille.osullivan @camilleosullivanpics and @grah @camille.osullivan @camilleosullivanpics and @grahnort @wiltonsmusichall god this woman is talented. She did a solo show of The Rape of Lucrece. Her voice! #theatre #shakespeare #london
My latest article on Hungarian cuisine, a unique m My latest article on Hungarian cuisine, a unique meeting of east and west, for @ckbk It's a blend of Ottoman, Eastern and middle European, Austro-Hungarian empire and cowboy food. #food&travel #foodanthropology #hungary
Made Fermented Cucumber dill pickles from @nickvad Made Fermented Cucumber dill pickles from @nickvadasz book The Pickle Jar. At @katzsdeli in New York they sell half sours and full sours. I reckon these are 3/4 sour. The white mould is fine btw. These are delicious #pickleperson #fermentation #guthealthy
London in bloom: wisteria, cherry blossom, lilac, London in bloom: wisteria, cherry blossom, lilac, plum blossom, 🌸 you don’t need to go to Japan for the Sakura season- it’s all here- london at its most beautiful. #london
Bluebell walk on Wanstead flats. The scent is incr Bluebell walk on Wanstead flats. The scent is incredible: similar to lily of the valley. These are actual English bluebells - a deeper colour & more delicate than Spanish bluebells which are rather invasive. #london #walks #april #bluebells
Snapshots from portobello rd market. Portuguese fo Snapshots from portobello rd market. Portuguese folar de pascua bread from Lisboa patisserie,  a gorgeous mosaic table from Fez, my favourite antique shop @muirshindurkin, Alice’s shop, an Easter hat, the best wisteria I wrote a substack on portobello road: https://open.substack.com/pub/kerstinrodgers/p/where-to-go-in-portobello-road-the?r=3873k&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true #london
I visited @tokyobagellondon with my granddaughter I visited @tokyobagellondon with my granddaughter yesterday to try one of their viral wobbly bunnies. We also tried the multi layer Oreo pancake cakes, the onigiri shaped croissant. My sister had the black sesame latte and I had yuzu tea. I spent £35 in a short space of time as each dessert was £5 but it was a fun experience. Ophelia said ‘lovely flowers’ which shows a degree of sophistication for a 2 year old. I preferred the strawberry to the coconut flavour . #londondaysout #grandmacore #easter
A quick high protein lunch of ratatouille with smo A quick high protein lunch of ratatouille with smoked tofu.  @pomoragoodfood olive oil then an aubergine cut into thick slices then quartered. Fry till translucent then add the chunks of red pepper. 2 fat garlic cloves sliced thinly, a block of smoked tofu in chunks, 2 bay leaves, a small handful of maldon salt. A courgette cut into thick half lengthways- then sliced into half moons. I might chuck in a handful of pantelleria capers in vinegar to give some acidity. Serve hot or cold. #sololunch #protein #vegetables
Inspired by @nickvadasz book The pickle Jar I used Inspired by @nickvadasz book The pickle Jar I used his dill pickles to make one of my favourite recipes for lunch - a potato, sour cream & pickle soup. Recipe on the blog. #soup #pickles
One of my favourite ways to eat mushrooms. Cook wh One of my favourite ways to eat mushrooms. Cook whole button mushrooms in olive oil, lemon juice, a little white wine vinegar, salt, bay leaves, whole coriander seeds, thyme, and white wine if you have it to hand. I used @pomoragoodfood olive oil. You can eat it straight away or leave it to marinate longer and eat the next day. #vegetarian #vegan #mushroomrecipe
Follow on Instagram

Archives

Copyright © 2025 msmarmitelover