Bring the sunshine and the scent of summer in your kitchen with these elderflower fritters which are lightly fried elderflowers in a pancake batter like, they are golden, crunchy and a delicious dessert with a difference, they are a real treat and a delightful seasonal delicacy.

The culinary use of elderflower has been revolutionized in the past few years, but in the whole of Slovenia, including the Slovenian coast where I come from, elderflower fritters are a dish that is very old and traditional.

Those of you that have been reading my posts on this blog for a while, will know that I come from a family of very passionate foragers, and so there should be no surprise that this fragrant flower ends up on a plate. My maternal grandmother, stara mama Iva, would make them when we were little.

We children got away with eating just that, with a glass of milk, and skipping altogether a main evening meal, which is quite a common practice in neighbouring Austria.

If you are not too familiar with the elderflower, please go and read my page with the recipe for elderflower cordial where I explain a bit more in detail where, when, and how to pick this edible, fragrant, and sweet flower.

What can be better than going on a walk on a sunny day and bring home a free meal...try these elderflower fritters, you will be hooked, and will have another reason to look forward to a following spring/summer.

Ingredients

Serves 4-6 as a dessert (2-3 heads per person)

about 10-14 elderflower heads with their stems
100g all purpose (plain) flour
1egg
70ml milk
70ml very cold sparkling water
sea salt, a pinch
2 tsp caster sugar, optional
oil for frying (neutral tasting, I used sunflower oil)
icing sugar or vanilla icing sugar, for dusting

Method

Prepare elderflower heads by cutting the stems with the scissors but leaving at least 5cm of stem for easy handling (in other words enough stem to hold them by). Very gently shake any insects and dirt off your flower heads, but do not be tempted to wash the flower heads as you will loose the flavour.

In a mixing bowl, using a hand whisk, whisk the egg, add milk, sea salt and sugar, if using, and mix until well combined.

Add the flour gradually and whisk until smooth with no lumps, then add sparkling water which will help lighten the batter, set aside an leave it to rest for about 30 minutes.

Heat about 5cm of oil a pan (big enough to accommodate the largest elderflower head) until hot (180C on a temperature probe). You will know the oil is ready when a drop of batter bubbles immediately and turns golden in about 5 seconds.

Holding the elderflower by their stems, dip each elderflower head into the batter, so they are coated all over, gently shake off excess batter.

Drop the flowers into the pan with hot oil (flower side down) and fry for about 30 seconds. Fry one flower at a time.

They should be lightly golden in colour and not too brown.

Remove with a slotted spoon and dry on kitchen paper.

Dust generously with icing sugar, serve and eat while still warm and crunchy.

Delicious also drizzled with honey, accompanied with vanilla ice cream, lemon sorbet or fresh strawberries, cherries or other seasonal fresh fruit of your choice.

Just a thought

Elderflower fritters ideally should not be made well in advance as the batter, which should be crisp, will become soft.

Wine suggestion

Friuli Colli Orientali Traminer Aromatico DOC 2021-Zorzettig

Making elderflower syrup could not be simpler, and it is very rewarding, especially when you want to cool down with a refreshing, non-alcoholic, low sugar drink during the hot summer months.

Just add to your Elderflower syrup cold tap or sparkling water, a few cubes of ice, a slice of lemon, and if you wish, a few leaves of fresh mint. This will really add extra flavour and freshness to any glass of water, and will for sure now make an ordinary glass of water a memorable part of any summer day.

Added to Prosecco or other fizzy wines will make a brilliant grown-up drink.

Elderflower syrup has many culinary uses and they are quite varied. You can add it to cake batter, biscuits and cookies mixture for extra flavour, drizzle over waffles, pancakes, ice cream or sorbet, (especially lemon sorbet), drizzle over fruit pavlova or over strawberries and cream. You can add elderflower syrup when making strawberry jam and put it into a yoghurt and fruit smoothies for an extra dimension of flavour.

It can be enjoyed all year round and makes a fantastic home made gift for your foodie family and friends.

My mother and my maternal grandparents were real nature lovers, and passed on to me their appreciation of the natural world. My long walks and hikes with them provided a wonderful opportunity to go foraging!

I learned how to simply stop, listen and observe what was all around me. They always pointed out to me different trees, plants, animals, birds... and even named them.

I got a real sense for the changing seasons, and what to go foraging for in different seasons, and so to eat what was in season and in this way live closer to nature.

I have very vivid memories of my grandad always carrying in his pocket a small, partially covered in rust foldable pocket knife. If I close my eyes, I have a very clear image of how the knife looked.

He was a very skillful and resourceful man, and if he found what seemed like an appropriate piece of wood, he would sit down on a rock, pulled out his knife, and make me, for example, a simple whistle ...

This will stay with me forever.

They also taught me to recognize the elderflower from other very similar looking plants, which would not make a very pleasant tasting drink.

When I was small and elderflower was in season my mum made quite few bottles of elderflower syrup. I will share with you in this recipe how she did it. The recipe uses citric acid that adds the extra zing but most of all it acts as a preservative so you can keep your syrup for longer.

First of all, you really want to make sure that you pick the elderflowers in areas away from roads and away from any other form of pollution.

Pick healthy looking, fully opened blossoms, place them gently in a basket, keeping them upright so you minimize to lose the pollen, which is the major source of vitamins and minerals, and that unique fragrance and flavour.

You will find elderflowers from late April to almost the end of July, depending on where you live.

Also, it is extremely important that you do not pick too many elderflower heads from the same bush. This is because the birds feed on the elderflower berries in early autumn.

This recipe will give about 3 litres of elderflower syrup.

Ingredients

about 30 big heads of elderflower (do not rinse them as you will loose a lot of flavour, remove bugs, insects, leaves etc.) remove the thick stems and trim off the smaller stems as much as you can
3kg of granulated sugar
3 lemons, preferably organic
3l water
70g citric acid (food-grade, looks a bit like caster sugar)

Method

In a large pot (containing about 5-6l) add water and bring to boil, then turn the heat off.

Add sugar and citric acid and stir continuously until all the sugar and citric acid have completely dissolved.

Remove from the heat and cool to room temperature.

Add elderflower heads, sliced lemons and gently stir, making sure the elderflowers are completely submerged.

Put the lid on and leave for 3-4 days but give it a gentle stir once a day so the flavour of the elderflower can diffuse into the syrup.

Strain the syrup into a bowl through a fine-meshed sieve previously lined with muslin cloth (you can use cheesecloth or simply kitchen paper towel). Preferably, the bowl should have a spout since it will be very useful and helpful when pouring the syrup into a funnel, at the later stage when you are bottling the syrup.

The syrup is now ready for bottling. Sterilize your bottles and lids or other closures for glass bottles with the method that you are most familiar with. I use the dishwasher method by placing the rinsed glass bottles upside down and set it to the highest setting (or the steam setting, if you have one) and put them through a cycle. Leave the bottles to cool slightly in the dishwasher and remove each one as you need it.

With the help of the funnel, pour the syrup into your sterilized bottles. Make sure you close the bottles tightly with lids or other closures for glass bottles.

No oxygen should enter the bottles, preventing the bacteria to feed and multiply on the oxygen.

It is the multiplying of the bacteria that will form CO2 which causes bottles to “burst, or explode” and the cordial to ferment, go fizzy, and become very slightly alcoholic.

It is a good idea to put the bottles in the fridge, where the syrup will last for months, at least until Christmas, when you will be ready for that Elderflower Prosecco cocktail.

Elderflower fritters Recipe

Ingredients

Method

Just a thought

Wine suggestion

My mum's home made elderflower syrup recipe

Ingredients

Method