The elder is in bloom this weekend in Cambridge, lovely sprays of delicate white flowers hanging down from the hedgerows. I was inspired to have a go at this old country favourite, which I haven't eaten since I was a child. You want to surprise your friends with something they haven't encountered before? Try deep-fried flowers. They taste a bit like doughnuts infused with elderflower cordial, except that most doughnuts don't have a handy stalk to hold while you eat them.
I didn't have a recipe, so just made a fritter batter and added some Castor sugar for sweetness. For those who want to try:
100g plain flour
50g Castor sugar
2 teaspoons of baking power
1 tablespoon of oil
1/4 pint of water (note how, like many Brits, I am incapable of consistent use of either metric or imperial)
About 8 heads of elderflowers, freshly picked on a sunny day for maximum flavour.
Mix the flour, sugar and baking power in a large mixing bowl, then gradually mix the oil and water to make a batter. Most batter likes to stand for a bit before use, so leave it well alone while you give the flowers a good shake and place them face-down on a plate. This is an important step, as it seemed to encourage all the insects to crawl off the flowers and onto the plate. Heat an inch or so of oil in a frying pan until it is really hot. Dip a head of flowers into the batter and fry in the oil until the batter has cooked through. Repeat until either the batter or the flowers run out. Place the cooked fritters on a piece of kitchen roll to absorb excess oil. Serve immediately.
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6 comments:
They sound lovely! I made a cake with polenta and elderflowers, it's an Italian one called "pan di miglio" - can send the recipe if you'd like it...
Hum, not sure I'll be rushing out to make it.
But it may well catch on with "Z", who's just had some zuchinni's she guerilla-planted in street corner stolen, poor thing.
This should give you my revived blog address ...
Those fritters sound divine! Have you tried putting elderflower heads in the base of a cake tin under the sponge mixture? Yummy elderflower flavoured sponge cake - fill with gooseberry or greengage jam.
Celia
(nearly in Cambridgeshire)
Aw man, I can't believe I missed out on the elderflower picking! I was on the allotments when you went.
How about my stolen zucchinis, hey? I've written a sniffy letter to post on the fence about it - eyes peeled for neighbourhood feuding!
Oh, did you see Christophe is back? He's back.
(GOT to change that blogger name...)
ta daaa! Fixed it! bye bye trainee, hello coelacanth - the best & hell-scariest anachronism in the underwater world.
Btw, I like 'organic viking' way better than viking sal. Easier to remember, too - I kept losing your blog before...
aww, coelacanth is a lovely name! I'm sorry you missed the fritters, but there wasn't much to miss. I just nipped out for five minutes while waiting for K to come home. There should be better flowers this weekend in any case.
Can you really complain about the *courgettes* when you planted them in public earth?
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