*This Elderflower Lemonade is a refreshing summer beverage that combines the floral scent of elderflowers with tart lemon and raw honey.
I realize I’m a little late in the season to be sharing a recipe with elderflowers in it, but better late than never I guess! Elderflower lemonade just can’t wait until next year.
This summer has been harder than I had thought it would be and I’ve really gotten behind some goals and I know the blog has definitely suffered. Thank you all for your patience!
Elderflowers aren’t an item that you can find in your grocery store, as far as I know. They’re something that must be foraged. This may be difficult, depending on where you live.
I live in a mountainous region and elderflower trees can be found sometimes in the canyons. I have several that grow in a canyon along the roadside 10 minutes south of my home, as well as a tree that grows in the pasture across from my parents home, so elderberries are quite accessible for me, thankfully.
If you’d like to forage for elderflowers, you can find out easily in which areas they grow, a quick look on line should tell you. A few things to note about foraging for elderflowers:
*Every part of an elderflower tree is poisonous, except for the blossoms/berries. The stems are only mildly so, and if you let some into your mixture when steeping, you’ll likely be fine. The thick stems and bark, however, ARE poisonous, so keep that in mind.
*Elderflowers turn in to elderberries. Be conscious when foraging and only take a few clusters of blossoms from each tree so that there will be plenty left to grow into berries which serve as food for the birds and also are harvested and made into a medicinal syrup that I always keep around through the cold season.
This lemonade is ridiculously simple.
It all starts with a syrup made by steeping elderflower blossoms in hot lemon juice and water to extract all of it’s lovely floral flavor. Then it’s strained and the liquid is mixed with honey to form a syrup that can be combined with water to taste and served over ice for the prettiest tasting summer drink.
This recipe would also work for other flowers such as lavender and rose. If you give it a try, let me know in the comments. I’d love to hear how it turns out!
While we’re on the subject, how about a few other favorite lemonade recipes?
Whole Fruit Pineapple Peach Lemonade
Gooseberry Lemonade + Marjoram Blossoms
Meyer Lemon Vanilla Spice Lemonade
Happy Sunday Everyone! Hope your day is great and maybe involves a little elderflower lemonade 😉
Elderflower Lemonade
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Author: Kayley McCabe
Recipe type: beverage
Serves: 3 cups syrup
Ingredients
- 1 cup Raw Honey
- 1 cup Water
- 1 cup Lemon juice
- 1 cup Elderflower Blossoms, washed, stems removed
- ice and water to taste
Instructions
- Place the elderflower blossoms in a glass quart jar.
- Add the water and lemon juice to a saucepan and bring just to a boil. Pour over the elderflower blossoms.
- Cover jar and let steep for 1 hour. Strain the blossoms out of the infused water and pour the water back into the jar. Add the honey and stir until a liquidy syrup forms.
- Chill syrup.
- To make lemonade, fill a glas with ice and fill ¾ full with water. Add the syrup to the glass and stir, taste, and add more syrup until desired strength is reached.
- Keep syrup refrigerated
your blog hasn’t “suffered”….it’s perfectly fine just the way it unfolds..be kind to your creative heart,eyes, and hands……it’s my joy to view your post….i made the angle food cake for my birthday in july…it was a hit ….thank you,deborah…
Thank you so much for the kind words, Deborah! I really appreciate that. And I’m so glad that you liked the angel food cake! Happy belated birthday!!