Hamish's Elderflower Cordial Recipe

Courtesy of www.ashridgetrees.co.uk

A lovely refreshing summer drink perfect for in the garden.

You will need:

- 35 fresh elder flower heads

- 2 oranges, rough sliced,
- 2 lemons, also rough sliced,
- 2oz tartaric or citric acid,

- 3 pints boiling water,
- 3lb granulated sugar,
- 1 Camden tablet per gallon of cordial,
- Large plastic container,
- Glass or food grade plastic bottles with airtight caps,
- A Siphon tube,
- J-cloths or wine filtering fabric,
- A large sieve.

Instructions

- Boil the water and dissolve the sugar in it. Allow it to cool properly.
- Add the orange and lemon slices to the cool sugar water.
- Stir in and make sure the tartaric or citric acid is dissolved.
- Add the elder flower heads.
- Cover it up with a lid or cloth (we like to use a 5 gallon (25 litre) home winemaking plastic barrels) and leave it for 48-72 hours.
- Strain the mixture and leave for another 48 hours.
- We then siphon it all to another container, leaving the sediment/dregs behind and then we add 1 crushed Camden tablet per gallon of cordial.
- Shake well, and then leave for 3-4 hours to settle.
- Bottle, leaving behind any more dregs.
- If you don’t want to use two large containers, then you will need to add a crushed Camden tablet at the rate of 1 per gallon (1/2 a tablet to a 4 pint milk container for example) and carefully siphon directly into that.
- Shake the bottle well after you have filled it and do the top up tightly. Shake it again an hour or two later to make sure the tablet has dissolved. It will then keep for ages – as in years.

Always use sterilised bottles:

- Microwave: 2-3 minutes should kill anything.
- Oven: put glass bottles into your cold oven. Run it up to about 140C, keep it there for 10-15 minutes and then leave it to cool.
- You can also use Milton or just boiling hot water.

How long you can store your cordial:

- With no acids or tablets – 3-4 weeks in the fridge. Freeze in plastic bottles for longer storage.
- With the citric or tartaric acid it will keep for 3-4 months in the fridge.
- With the Camden tablets, elderflower cordial keeps almost indefinitely in a cool, dark place.

Dilute the cordial to taste (about 1:5) and Enjoy!

Susie Watson Designs Hand Painted Pottery from Sri Lanka

We’ve a little update on our team working in Sri Lanka, Susie kindly brought these photos back with her from her recent trip.

The factory was started in 1968, and it is still a family owned business. Some workers have been there over 30 years, with grown up children working alongside their parents.

Many of the techniques employed have not been used for many years, and when Susie’s business came along, some skills had to be reintroduced and re learnt.

The staff are incredibly skilled decorative painters; Duleeka is the paint making girl who mixes and creates the new paints, spots are dropped on by hand, bands are drawn with paintbrushes. Priya apparently can paint the bands with her eyes shut! And all of the designs are placed onto the ceramic by hand cut sponges - Deepika does these and is an expert. Depending what time of year it is they will be painting all sorts of things, Iresha is really good at Christmas designs at the moment.

She is finalising the painting of some of Susie’s new Christmas designs which we think are beautiful and a lovely addition to the Christmas pottery collection.


Susie will have been working on the designs here in the UK before she goes to Sri Lanka, and then when it’s sampled over there, any adjustments can be made.

These will be made now and shipped over to us in time for late autumn delivery and ready to go for Christmas time!