Alrighty then, plans for these fragrant little flowers. Since reading Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's Hedgerow River Cottage Handbook, which is excellent by the way, I've had a bit of a yearning to try the Elderflower Delight. It's been a bit of a wait between reading and for the elderflowers to arrive, but arrive they finally have! Hugh's recipe uses gelatine which is something I'm not keen on. I've done a bit of improvising with cream of tartar and, I'm pleased to say, it worked!
Elderflower Turkish Delight
20 Elderflower sprays
700g granulated sugar
Juice of 2 lemons
400ml water
1 heaped tsp cream of tartar
130g cornflour + a little extra
30g icing sugar
- Strip the elderflower blossoms using a fork and tie them into a piece of muslin (or similar) to form a bag.
- Put the granulated sugar, lemon juice and 300ml of water in a heavy based pan, heat gently to dissolve the sugar, then leave to cool.
- Line a shallow baking tray with baking parchment and dust with the extra cornflour.
- In a bowl mix the 130g of cornflour, cream of tartar and remaining water until smooth, then add to the lemon sugar syrup.
- Suspend the muslin bag in the pan and put back on a low heat stirring continuously (in a figure of eight) giving the bag a squeeze with the back of the spoon from time to time.
- After 10/15 mins remove the bag - continuing to stir the now thickening mixture.
- The mixture will become extremely gloopy. Test for readiness by dropping a little of the mixture onto a cold plate - you're looking for it to set firm. This can take quite a while and is tough on the arms.
- Pour onto the prepared lined shallow baking tin and leave to cool for an hour before placing in the fridge.
- Cut into squares with a sharp knife and roll in icing sugar.
Typically, the day after I wrote this post we've had the most glorious sunshiny day. Tsk. I don't think the Delight could have turned out any better though, sunshine or no :0)
