Easy Elderflower Cordial Recipe With Vodka

To support the running costs of Moral Fibres, this post contains affiliate links. This means Moral Fibres may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to readers, on items purchased through these links.

Preserve the taste of summer with this easy elderflower cordial recipe made with vodka. With no cooking required, it’s an easy way to bottle up this delicious summer flavour.

Can you believe I’ve been waiting to share this elderflower cordial recipe with you for a whole year? I made this boozy elderflower cordial at the peak of elderflower season last year. However, I didn’t want to share it before tasting it in case it didn’t taste right. By the time it was ready and had the Moral Fibres seal of approval, elderflower season was over.

two wine glasses of elderflower cordial
My delicious elderflower cordial

As it tasted so good, this year I thought I’d share the homemade elderflower cordial recipe early on in the season. This means there’s plenty of time for you to go out and pick! Here in Edinburgh, in early June, the elderflowers are just coming out into bloom at the moment. If you’re further south they may be in bloom already.

How To Forage For Elderflower

elderflower picking
My secret elderflower foraging spot!

First up you’ll need to find and pick your elderflowers. Elderflowers are in bloom in the UK from around late May to mid-June. Pretty ubiquitous around the UK, you’re most likely to find them growing in woods, beside rivers or canals, in graveyards. Another common place is beside roads, but I tend to avoid picking beside busy roads to avoid contamination from traffic fumes.

Elderflowers are quite easy to spot. Look for a flowering bush, with delicate white flowers and a distinct sambuca-like smell. If in doubt I found a handy elderflower identification guide that you might find useful. If you’re still in doubt, don’t pick anything and ask an expert or consult a book on foraging – better safe than sorry!

elderflower bush in bloom
This is what you’re looking for!

Once you’ve found your elderflowers bear in mind it’s best to pick elderflowers on a dry sunny day, in the morning, when the flowers are at their most fragrant. This apparently translates to a richer sweeter flavour, but if it’s late afternoon don’t worry too much!

Avoid picking at ground level (dogs!) – instead, pick from the higher branches. You also want to make sure that you pick nice creamy white flower heads. Anything brown or a bit discoloured may taste a bit bitter.

It’s important to be an ethical forager. This means:

  • Giving the flowerheads a good shake before you put them in your bag to dislodge any insects
  • Not picking from just one bush so that you leave plenty of flowers for insects.
  • Not taking any more than you need – this elderflower cordial recipe calls for about fifteen elderflower heads.
  • Leaving plenty of flowers so that they can turn into elderberries later in the season, which are an important source of food for wild birds.

How To Make Elderflower Cordial

Boozy Elderflower Cordial Recipe

This boozy elderflower cordial is smooth and mellow, and is the perfect taste of summer all year round. Serve with tonic or soda water, or lemonade, or serve straight up over ice.
Print Recipe

Ingredients

  • A 1 litre capacity jar
  • About 15 elderflower heads see above for how to identify and pick elderflowers
  • 1 litre of cheap generic vodka
  • One large lemon
  • 5 tablespoons of sugar

Instructions

  • Dip your elderflowers in water and give them a good shake to dry. Peel a lemon, and keep the peel to the side.
  • Then add your flowers to a sterilised jar, adding the lemon peel as you go so it’s evenly distributed in the jar. Keep going until you’ve added as much elderflower as the jar will hold and all of the lemon peel.
  • Add 5 teaspoons of sugar, about 5 mls of juice from your lemon, and pour in the vodka until you’ve completely submerged all of the elderflowers. Screw the lid on and give the jar a good shake.
  • Leave for four weeks in a cool dark place, shaking occasionally to mix the sugar in.
  • During the four weeks it’s really worth occasionally opening your jar to check that the vodka is still covering the elderflowers otherwise the top ones might go a bit brown and make it taste a bit bitter. If this happens just take out the brown flowers and top up with more vodka.
  • Once your four weeks are up sieve your mix to remove the flowers and lemon peel, and decant your flavoured vodka into a sterilised bottle or jar. It will keep for onwards of a year!

As well as infusing your elderflower in vodka, you can infuse it with your own creativity too, by adding any flavours you want to your elderflower cordial. I added a punnet of local raspberries in another jar and it turned out beautifully. Elderflower cordial tastes like summer at the best of times, but the addition of raspberries was extra summery! Strawberries, cherries, or blackberries would also work well, I’d imagine. However, blackberries are never ready here in Edinburgh in time for elderflower season.

You can drink your cordial straight over ice, or add some lemonade, tonic, or soda water (see my guide to ethical soft drinks for some of the best ones) for a refreshing summer drink.

homemade elderflower cordial in jars
My elderflower cordial steeping

I got a bit carried away and ended up with three large jars of elderflower cordial! I had intended to give some of it away, but, ahem, that didn’t quite happen…! I’m slightly embarrassed to admit that after a year this is all we have left of our supply:

elderflower cordial  in bottles

Needless to say, I’ll be out elderflower foraging in the next few weeks, and getting funny looks at the local shop for buying so much vodka!

Hope you enjoy this elderflower cordial recipe – bottoms up!

PS: keep an eye out for elderberries later in the season. You can make this delicious non-alcoholic spiced elderberry syrup from them! I made a small batch last year, which we used up far too quickly. I have made a mental note to make triple what I made as it was just incredible (and I’m not 100% certain if it was down to the syrup but I didn’t catch a cold once over the winter season…).

And, if you liked this, do make a note to try my cranberry and orange-infused gin recipe in winter. It’s one of my very favourites!

Found this post useful? Please consider buying me a virtual coffee to help support the site’s running costs.

Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Your subscription has been successful.

Join The Mailing List

Be part of the community and get all the latest articles, news and tips on green living from Moral Fibres straight to your inbox, once a month, free of charge.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

One Comment

  1. I tried this a couple of years ago – it went brown and was disgusting but perhaps I need to try it again – I don’t think the recipe I used included the lemon and I suppose the flowers can’t have been submerged. I have tried adding a few elderflowers and lemon slices to rhubarb and gin this year but just infused them in a mesh bag for a bit and then removed so will have to wait a while to see if that was sufficient to actually add any flavour. I think the elderflowers are coming to an end around here now but definitely tempted to try this again now I’ve seen it can work.