RJ Homestead

One of the things we value most here at Grow, Gather, Heal is finding plants that offer us medicine and nourishment in more ways than one. That is exactly why we love the elder shrub so deeply. It is a plant that gives generously twice a year—first with its frothy, fragrant blossoms in the late spring, and again with its dark, immune-supporting berries as we move toward autumn.

Over the last couple of weeks, we have been busy harvesting the creamy white elderflowers, catching them just before the transition begins. As we look at the shrubs now, the tiny green berries are already starting to form in their place.

We love making the absolute most of this short-lived harvest. We made sure to dry a generous bundle of flowers to tuck away for gentle winter teas, and we tossed some fresh blossoms right into our homemade kombucha for a beautiful floral fizz. But today, we decided to capture the pure, sun-drenched essence of the season by making a sweet, fragrant Elderflower Cordial.

If you have never made it, elderflower cordial is a beautifully concentrated herbal syrup. We love to mix it into ice-cold sparkling water for a refreshing afternoon drink, drizzle it over fresh summer fruit, or use it as a sweet botanical base for evening mocktails and cocktails.

Here is the simple, small-batch recipe we used today.

🌼 Fresh Elderflower Cordial

This small-batch recipe yields about 1 quart (4 cups) of beautiful, fragrant syrup.

What You Will Need:

• 10–15 fresh elderflower heads (shake them gently to remove any little bugs, but do not wash them—you want to keep the wild pollen!)
• 2 cups water
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 to 2 organic lemons (thinly slice one; squeeze the juice of the other)
• 1/2 tsp citric acid (optional, but highly recommended as a natural preservative and to give the flavor a bright boost)

How to Make It:

1. Prepare the Flowers
Take a quiet moment to pluck or snip the tiny white blossoms off their green umbels. Try to remove as much of the thick green stem as possible, as the stems can leave a bitter taste.

2. Make the Sweet Syrup
In a saucepan, combine your water, sugar, and citric acid. Heat the mixture gently over medium heat until the sugar completely dissolves, then remove it from the heat.

3. Macerate
Place your prepared flower blossoms, the lemon slices, and the fresh lemon juice into a quart-size glass jar. Carefully pour the warm syrup over everything, watching the flowers release their scent into the steam.

4. Steep and Rest
Cover the jar with a clean tea towel or a loose lid. Let it rest and steep at room temperature for 24 to 48 hours. This slow, patient wait is what extracts all that aromatic pollen and deep floral flavor.

5. Strain and Store
Strain the liquid through a fine-mesh strainer layered with cheesecloth or a piece of muslin into a clean container, pressing gently on the flowers to release every last drop of syrup. Pour your finished cordial into a sterilized bottle and keep it safely in the refrigerator.

It is such a wonderful feeling to open the fridge and see this little bottle of captured sunshine waiting for us. As the season turns and the new green berries continue to ripen, we will be sure to share how we harvest and preserve the next phase of this incredible plant’s life.