TO be in the countryside in May, when spring allows summer to float across its mind, is a pleasure that never wears off.
It’s that time of year when a day of sunshine still feels like a blessing rather than an expectation and it’s exactly when the elder springs into flower.
If you’ve yet to risk clambering in hedgerows and copses intent on picking the soft-cream florets, let me encourage you. Nothing carries the perfume of a changing season quite like elderflower. Its joyous, heady, muscat aroma is at its most intense in full sun, so cut or twist the flower heads from the plant within an hour or two of when you intend to use them—for cordial or ‘champagne’ —to capture the best of them.
As well as making wonderful drinks, elderflower is gooseberry’s devoted spouse. Those aromatic flowers soften gooseberry’s sharp edges without losing any of its or the berry’s character. They draw gooseberries into the sun and add depth to summer fruit, especially strawberries and peaches. If you fancy something a little different, do try elderflowers battered, deep fried and dipped in cinnamon sugar. Elderflower also takes very well to drying: lay the flower heads face down for a day, then shake the florets loose and into an airtight container, where they’ll retain much of their flavour and scent for the year.
Denne historien er fra May 02, 2018-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra May 02, 2018-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Happiness in small things
Putting life into perspective and forces of nature in farming
Colour vision
In an eye-baffling arrangement of geometric shapes, a sinister-looking clown and a little girl, Test Card F is one of television’s most enduring images, says Rob Crossan
'Without fever there is no creation'
Three of the top 10 operas performed worldwide are by the emotionally volatile Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, who died a century ago. Henrietta Bredin explains how his colourful life influenced his melodramatic plot lines
The colour revolution
Toxic, dull or fast-fading pigments had long made it tricky for artists to paint verdant scenes, but the 19th century ushered in a viridescent explosion of waterlili
Bullace for you
The distinction between plums, damsons and bullaces is sweetly subtle, boiling down to flavour and aesthetics, but don’t eat the stones, warns John Wright
Lights, camera, action!
Three remarkable country houses, two of which have links to the film industry, the other the setting for a top-class croquet tournament, are anything but ordinary
I was on fire for you, where did you go?
In Iceland, a land with no monks or monkeys, our correspondent attempts to master the art of fishing light’ for Salmo salar, by stroking the creases and dimples of the Midfjardara river like the features of a loved one
Bravery bevond belief
A teenager on his gap year who saved a boy and his father from being savaged by a crocodile is one of a host of heroic acts celebrated in a book to mark the 250th anniversary of the Royal Humane Society, says its author Rupert Uloth
Let's get to the bottom of this
Discovering a well on your property can be viewed as a blessing or a curse, but all's well that ends well, says Deborah Nicholls-Lee, as she examines the benefits of a personal water supply
Sing on, sweet bird
An essential component of our emotional relationship with the landscape, the mellifluous song of a thrush shapes the very foundation of human happiness, notes Mark Cocker, as he takes a closer look at this diverse family of birds
