Elderflower delight

One of our absolute favourite foraged treats - irresistibly delicious. This recipe is taken from the River Cottage "Hedgerow" book by the wonderful John Wright.

One of our absolute favourite foraged treats - irresistibly delicious. This recipe is taken from the River Cottage "Hedgerow" book by the wonderful John Wright.
Ingredients:- (makes about 60 cubes)
  • 20g leaf gelatine
  • 20 elderflower flower heads (unwashed)
  • Juice of 2 lemons
  • 700g granulated sugar
  • 400ml water
  • 130g cornflour
  • 30g icing sugar
  1. Soak the gelatine in a shallow dish of cold water to soften,
  2. Strip the individual flowers off the flowerhead, leaving as much of the stalks behind as possible.  Put the flowers into a piece of muslin and tie together with string to make a bag.
  3. Put the sugar,  lemon juice and 300ml of water into a heavy based saucepan. Heat gently until the sugar has dissolved and then leave to cool.
  4. In a small bowl mix, together the cornflower and 100ml of water together, and then add to the sugar and lemon juice mix.
  5. Return the saucepan to a low heat, squeeze the water out of the gelatine sheets and add them to the saucepan. Stir with a balloon whisk until the gelatine has dissolved.
  6. Bring the mixture slowly to a boil and simmer for 10 mins, stirring almost continuously to stop the mixture from sticking.
  7. Hang the muslin bag of elderflowers into the mix and simmer, still stirring for a further 15 mins. Give the bag the occasional squeeze to extract the elderflower scent. The mixture will become clearer and thicker until it is really gloopy. At this point, turn off the heat and leave to cool.
  8. Mix the remaining 30g cornflour and the icing sugar together.  Line a shallow baking tin with greaseproof paper and dust with a heaped tablespoonful of the cornflour/sugar powder.
  9. Remove the bag of elderflowers from the saucepan (giving it a final squeeze) and pour the mixture into the baking tin.  Place in a cool place to set (not the fridge).  Once cold, put into the fridge for a few hours until the mixture has set and become rubbery.
  10. Cut the delight into cubes with a knife and dust with the remaining cornflour/icing sugar powder.  
  11. Keeps for about a week - if it lasts that long.

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