Years ago I loved to experiment with wild food and worked my way through Richard Mabey’s “food for free“
After a couple of years experimenting with stewed nettles and the likes I came down to half a dozen wild foods which I still enjoy when in season but the rest are the sort of thing which in the words of Crocodile Dundee “you can live on it, but it taste like sh*t.”
Elderflower fritters are one of those wonderful seasonal treats and incredibly easy to make. Simply crack and egg into a bowl add a good sploosh of milk then keep adding flour and whisking until it is a good coating creamy consistency. Dip your elderflower in and slop it straight into the fry pan.
As it begins to set trim off the stalks with scissors and flip it over.
Give it a minute on the other side to get a lovely golden brown drain for a second then flip it into a bowl of sugar. Eat whilst warm. This is serious indulgence, warm oily, sugary batter is reminiscent of fresh cooked donuts but with the fragrant flowery taste of the elderflowers. Yum yum.
i used to love that guys book "plants with a purpose" when i was a kid, i must root it out when i'm homewould like to try make some but your post is about a week too late!….. all the elderflower is gone here already…
Yes, our elderflowers are now nearly all turning to berries now but we did make some wine from some a couple of weeks ago. We had a bottle from a couple of years ago last night – the perfect drink on a balmy summers evening.
There are still plenty of elderflowers up north! I made 10 litres of elderflower champagne on friday – I just hope the bottles don't explode as they did once when I was a teenager.
Elderflower cordial is a refreshing Summer drink, here's one recipe: http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/judys-elderflower-cordial-recipe-340
At last, someone has shown me how to cook my fritters. And not too much oil!! Looking at the date for these posts last year just shows how far ahead things are this year and there's a bumper crop of blooms for champagne, cordial, and fritters.
Hi Sue, the date just shows how far behind Edale is due to being fairly well North and altitude. We only have 3 frost free months in the year.