The market · Herbs and aromatics · Northern and Central Europe
Elderflowers
The flat, creamy flower heads of the elder in early summer, with a muscat-grape scent that goes into cordials, fritters and anything with gooseberries.
floral · muscat · honeyed
Goes with
Knowing it
- Where to buy
- Foraged: pick on a dry, sunny morning, choosing fully open, creamy-white heads away from roads. Sniff first — fresh ones smell of muscat, old ones faintly of cat. Cordial all year.
- Worth knowing
- Shake out insects rather than washing, which takes the pollen and scent with it. Comb the flowers off the stalks with a fork — the stalks are bitter — and steep them in warm, not boiling, liquid.
