Summer Solstice Elderflowers (in Cape Town)
Cape Town’s summer days are blazing and long. But in the greenbelts of Constantia, the Cape Town suburb where my mother lives, the flowers can be found for months, from November through February.
Photography by Marie Viljoen.
Elderflowers in bloom in December.
Four Cape Town summers ago, at home for three months with my mother after my father passed away, I discovered that a favorite elder shrub I used to visit, growing high on the Alphen Trail, a verdant greenbelt following a tiny but steady stream called the Diep River, bordering my parents’ house, had been cut down.
January 1, 2019: the last great batch, with an early taste, at its feet.
A very active fermentation.
Still-fermenting cordial, cut with cold seltzer and ice.
So close, and yet so far.
Elderflowers being separated from their green stalks, prior to mixing with sugar and water.
Honeysuckle adds its perfumed note.
Six days after being mixed, the elderflower cordial is looking, smelling, and sounding (fizzzz) promising.
Eight days after starting, the summer solstice cordial is bottled (pictured with verjus and orange jessamine). Because it is an active ferment even after bottling, it must be kept in the fridge.
Perfect strawberries macerating in fizzy elderflower cordial.
Roast elderflower and herb chickens; the cordial bastes the birds in their last half-hour of cooking.
A vegetable and tamarind coconut curry sweetened with a quarter cup of elderflower cordial.
Bluefish pan-seared, then soused in elderflower vinegar.
Fermented Elderflower Cordial
The addition of lemon juice helps to slow fermentation down (many recipes call for citric acid) and keeps the effervescent brew more stable. Never keep a lid firmly screwed on, as fermentation will release gas that needs to escape.
Allow the jars of cordial to ferment another day or two, until the bubbles are less enthusiastic. You can save the pomace (the leftover flowers and lemon peel) to make an infused elderflower vinegar or marmalade (see Forage, Harvest, Feast for recipes). Bottle the strained cordial in clean bottles.