A gift of beautiful lemons from one friend and an invitation to pick elderflowers from the tree of another = a batch of lemon and elderflower cordial syrup.

It’s delicious served one part syrup to 4 to 5 parts soda water, mineral water or even just plain chilled water. A splash of gin is really good also.

Here’s the recipe for the syrup:

Lemon and Elderflower Cordial Syrup

6 large lemons

1.5 kg sugar

1 tablespoon citric acid

1 litre boiling water

14 to 16 elderflower heads (no stalk or leaves, just the flowers – I snip these off with scissors)

Method

Finely grate the lemon rind.  Squeeze the juice from the lemons.

Place the sugar, citric acid, lemon rind and boiling water in a large bowl.  Stir until the sugar has dissolved. If the sugar doesn’t all dissolve easily, heat the mixture over low heat only just until it does.

Stir in the lemon juice and then the elderflowers.

Leave to stand until cool (overnight for preference), then strain through a fine sieve and pour into sterilised bottles.  Seal.  Store in the fridge after opening.

Makes 2 litres, approximately