Elderflower Liqueur

Summer is almost halfway through and I just came home from Germany and Poland with a few litres of cheap vodka just for the reason of making liqueurs.
And just in time too!! The Elderflowers are almost all gone now so first thing I do when done unpacking is going out in the garden outside my apartement and cutting myself a few flowers to start with.

I got the inspiration from Elderflower Champagne (which I tried to make and failed miserably oh well, new batch in the making for this year too).

I wanted to keep this simple and basic.

So what you need?

4 dl of water
6 dl of sugar
7-8 fresh elderflowers
4 dl of vodka

You can also take the zest from a small lemon if you want a little less sweetness.

a little side note:
Since the flowers are almost all blossomed I took a few extra into flowers and added just to make sure I get the taste right. In the end I had 9 or 10 flowers all together

So on to the making...

Pour the water and the sugar into a skillet or sauce pan and heat up. Dissolve the sugar while the water is getting up to boiling point and stirring all the time to make it go faster.

When the sugar is completely dissolved take the skillet of the stove and add the flowers and the optional lemon peel.

Let it stand for 30-40 minutes and let it cool

ok our 40 minutes are up!!

Time to remove the flowers and the lemon zest if you added that. And if you want a clear liquid then you can also filter it. I kept it as it is because I like the slightly dirty colour.

NOW you add the Vodka to the mix!

Make sure to stir it up properly and then pour the liquid into bottles and then keep them cool!

Apparently my grandma used to make this when she was way younger!

When not having it after dinner she would add a little of the elderflower liqueur to her salad dressing. Apparently it gives a very summery feeling when served in the late autumn and when the snow starts falling.