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I agree that the Elderberry cordial is a good winter fortifier, I rarely get colds in the winter anymore and if I do get poorly it is a wonderful comfort drink.

I can't find my recipe but the key point which makes it a bit easier than other elderberry recipes is that you stew the stalks for extra flavour, so no forking!. You do have to be careful to remove any green stalks and cut off most of it because they are poisonous (tummy upset poisonous, not bad mushroom poisonous).I cut just below the part when the head branches and thats fine.

I will dig out the recipe, its around somewhere.

Gem

I just had a look on my PC and I cannot find my recipe of cordial from last year. All I remember is about putting the cloves in the bottles at the end... But I am sure I have used a recipe just like the one mentioned by Millymollymandy. I don't mind if it is a bit too sweet as I tend to put lots of water on my cordial when I poor some to drink it and that makes it a lot less sweet. I will check in my cookery books to see if this is where I found my recipe. It will be needed soon enough... Or maybe it is on a blog I have book-marked.

Thanks for the cordial recipe. If it ever stops raining I'm going out picking again so I can get cracking with making some jam etc. On the plus side, haven't had to water the garden for ages