fingers and toes

Rebecca and I made some elderflower cordial the other day, and deliberately kept some elderflowers aside to make fritters with. These were so delicious that we forgot to eat lunch, and kept turning to each other throughout the day to say “those fritters were SO good!”

So good in fact, that I made more the next day and remembered to take photos for the blog this time. Here’s how easy it is to make elderflower fritters:

Take a walk one sunny morning and pick some elderflower heads. Try for nice flat ones and apparently those facing the sun are best. Pick away from the road (or at least any main roads). Don’t wash them as this will wash the pollen off and the pollen is what tastes good. Check carefully for bugs and pick or shake them off. You’ll need about two large heads or three smaller ones per person.

Heat about 2cm of a mild-flavoured oil (please for the love of all that’s good do not use canola – try sunflower or grapeseed) in a small frying pan.

While the oil is heating beat an organic egg in a bowl, and add 1 cup of chilled soda water (or still, but soda makes a fluffier batter) and 1 cup of flour and mix well.

Then take your elderflower head and dunk it in the batter. You are aiming for a fairly light covering – if you leave some of the blossoms exposed they go nice and crunchy.

Holding the stem, transfer it to the oil and push it down a bit as you put it in to splay the flower out again.

Cook until it is nicely golden on the bottom and the batter is cooked through (if you get a bit on the top that’s not cooking well, spoon some oil onto it).

Transfer to a paper towel to drain and cut the stem off. Serve face up, drizzled with honey and with a sprinkling of flowers.

Eating flowers may seem weird but trust me and try it! There’s also nothing like eating food that you have foraged for yourself.