Oh, I’m so glad it’s May again! Spring is in full bloom, the birds are singing, the fields are green and filled with flowers and the buzzing of insects… and, of course, our friend Elder Tree (Sambucus nigra) is flowering too, gifting us the most pleasant scent and beautiful flowers 🌸

Last year I shared here in my blog a Delicious Homemade Elderflower Cordial Recipe that some of you tried and seemed to enjoy quite a lot! Here where I live, I shared my cordial with friends and family, and they loved it so much, my batch disappeared in no time 😂 As you can imagine, I was super eager to try the recipe once again this year, and I did! I decided to make a few changes to the amount of sugar and water to see how it would come out, and it did beautifully. A less concentrated version for those who prefer to use less sugar, though of course you can always dilute your cordial with water or other beverage!

Here are the changes I made, in case you’re curious:

• I used about 47 flower heads (slightly more than last year)
• I reduced the amount of yellow sugar to 1 Kg
• I increased the amount of water to 2 L
• I kept the same amount of lemons

That’s it! Everything else I did exactly the same as described in my other post, which has the full recipe as well as info on how to ID elderflowers, how to forage ethically and other interesting info! You can jump to that article here.

This year, besides testing a slightly different recipe, I also felt inspired to create a video about how I make elderflower cordial. I just love this tree and beverage so much, I felt inspired to walk around the village to collect little bits of footage here and there to create a video that could transpire my love for them as well as for this small village lost in rural Portugal. I hope you enjoy it! I also hope the video may be helpful to those who wish to follow the recipe in my other post and feel the need to have a video to help them better visualize what to do. Here it is:

As always, I hope you have liked this post and that this video and recipe bring you much joy! If you decide to give the recipe a try, please do share the results with me in the comment section bellow or via instagram! I’d love to know how it went and how you liked it Also, if you’ve enjoyed this, make sure to check out my other blog posts, such as my Rose Hip Syrup Recipe and my Homemade Blackberry Jam (with no sugar or pectin).

Much love, Filipa