Harvesting Elderflower, For Tea and Syrup!

Back in May, my husband's grandmother asked us to harvest some of her elderflower as she'd like to make elderflower syrup (I love her homemade syrup! I found the store-bought syrup a little different to hers).

I went with him this time as I have never seen fresh (not dried like at the health food store) elderflower before. I always thought they were like bushes, as many elderflower I found on the net were wildly grown among grasses, just like bushes/shrubs (or whatever they are called!). But grandma's elderflower was like a tall tree (well super tall bushes piling up like a tree, am I making sense here😂😂), about 3 tall trees growing super close one to another.

But holy moly, as her trees were located behind her shade, needless to say everything was messy back there, we had to clear up the area first! It was cccaaaaarraaaaaazzzzzzzyyy 😂😂😂😂

Harvesting elderflower from her trees weren't as easy as I thought it would be, remembering I saw differently on Google (bushes among grasses) and on reality (of her tall trees), and also, too many ants and bugs! Crazy raining ants and bugs over our heads😫😫😅😅😫😫

Holy moly!

From 1 tree we got like 2 cardboard box-full of elderflower. Some we dried them up in the attic which later we could make tea out of them.

I also got her recipe, should you want to try making your own elderflower syrup!

1 box of fresh elderflower (around 20-30 buds)
2 lemons
2 L lukewarm water
Sugar syrup, made of 500 ml water + 500 g sugar

Clean elderflower, rinse quickly and pat to dry. Place in a big bowl or jug.

Slice lemons and add into the jug, then pour 2 L lukewarm water (water should be enough to cover the flowers!).

Cover and leave at least overnight or two.

Strain liquid and discard flowers and lemon.

Mix sugar syrup and strained elderflower liquid, then stir in 1 envelope (10 g) of citric acid.

Store in the fridge.

To serve add ice water and or soda.

Enjoy!

It was such an experience, but in all honesty, I don't wanna go harvest elderflower anymore. Even as am typing, it reminds me the crawling feeling on my head of bugs, ants, and I don't know what else. Yikes!

Or maybe next time I will put on a hat🤔