Property News · June 19, 2016

Elderflowers: the essence of British summertime


Experiment with varieties of this heady flower and you’ll find a diversity of flavours and scentsIf I could pick just one flavour to capture the essence of the British summer it would have to be elderflower cordial: an instant flashback to fresh-cut lawns, the sun on your face and lazy days in the park, drink in hand. To me the simple annual ritual of making it – gathering bags of fragrant flowerheads, tumbling them into a giant saucepan, waiting for the magic to happen – is my sign that summer has truly arrived.Yet after years of concocting the stuff from foraged flowers, I decided to have a little experiment. Science has demonstrated that in flowers such as roses, the unique combination of aroma compounds can create a massive diversity of scents, both in terms of intensity and character. So why shouldn’t this be the case with the handful of cultivated elderflower varieties? Could there be an elder out there with a much stronger scent? Perhaps one with more of the fragrant, lychee-like notes that I love? Maybe even a hint of colour? Continue reading…

Source : theguardian.com
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