This fresh strawberry and elderflower lemonade captures spring in a glass. Both elderflowers and strawberries ripen at the same time, and fittingly enough they happen to be a match made in heaven. For this recipe you can make your own elderflower syrup using Sandro’s recipe here, or during the season (June) we make and bottle extra for our friends, which can be purchased on our website at Shop Pinolo.

Serves 4

4 Lemons

3 Tbsp Elderflower Syrup

Handful Diced Strawberries

2 c Sparkling Water

Squeeze lemons, add elderflower syrup and mix well. Toss in strawberries then pour into individual glasses. Add ice to glasses, pour sparkling water on top and stir well.

Pro Tip: If you like your lemonade on the sweet side then add sugar to the diced strawberries and let sit for 10 minutes until sugar melds with strawberries.

Elderflower syrup is versatile both in the kitchen and at the bar. From adding flavor to sparkling water, blending into a cocktail or even adding to cake frosting, it’s an easy recipe for harnessing the sweet floral essence of spring’s bounty.

For this recipe we suggest using the purple elderflower variety if possible. The purple flowers have a more intense smell and flavor than the white variety, which is more grassy.

Quick Tips: It’s important to collect the flowers in an area without pollution because it’s best to use the flowers without washing them. It’s also important that you collect flowers completely opened and before they start turning brown.

Ingredients:

Juice of 2 Lemons

500 g (2 ½ cups) Sugar

500 g (2 ½ cups) Water

5 big heads Elderflower (if you like a more intense flavor, just use more flowers)

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 380 F.

Combine the water and the sugar in a saucepan over medium heat until the sugar is completely dissolved, it doesn’t need to boil.

Let the syrup sit for 10 min and in the meanwhile check if any insects are hiding in your elderflowers - they love them as much as we do!

Do not wash the flowers. Washing removes a lot of the aroma and flavor.

If you’re using the purple elderflowers, add the 5 large flower heads to the warm syrup (stems, flowers and all).

If you’re using the white variety, then nearly double the flower heads (8 heads) and use only the flowers removing as many stems as you can. The green stems of the white flowers have a grassy smell that can give a bitter taste to the syrup.

Add the lemon juice, stir the syrup and be sure that all flowers are completely submerged, then cover the saucepan with a lid and let flowers infuse overnight.

In the morning strain the syrup through a fine sieve lined with cheesecloth.

You can bottle the syrup and keep it for several months. I prefer to keep it in my freezer to better preserve the flavor but it will be fine if you refrigerate instead. You can also boil in lidded canning jars for five minutes, then keep them in your cupboard and store in your fridge once opened.

Bravo!

how to use the syrup:

During the summer, a fast and delicious use is to add ½ cup of elderflower syrup to a quart of water or sparkling water. It’s much healthier and better tasting than plain soda!

For a cocktail use, try it in your mimosa!

And for a cooking application, drizzle some on a homemade cake when it’s still warm or on pancakes.