foraging fun with magic elder

This year the elderflowers bloomed early and I never managed to get myself out to forage them until last weekend, when low and behold, they had all but disappeared. Undeterred, I foraged as many as I could with my friend K, we reached as high as we could and picked the remaining flowers. We specially selected the ones that weren't brown, and of course avoid any hint of berries.

So, what to do with such a small number of elders? I could have made a small batch of elderflower cordial but was it worth the sticky mess? I had the citric acid from my foraging buddy J, who had bought be some in Austria. But I had no muslin. And elderflower does make the kitchen VERY sticky...

So, while scanning my favourite blog, Ms Marmite, I noticed she had a recipe for elderflower fritters. I had stumbled across this recipe before and was dying to give it a go. I also had all the ingredients- small miracle given my usual 'inventive' way of cooking....

So here, it is, step by step to making the fritters, which can be sweet or savoury. I opted for sweet...they were really tasty and there is something decadent about eating flowers picked from Haggerston Park.

Step 1: select the best elderflowers in your batch

Step 2: Make batter. Here's Ms Marmite's recipe- and please check out her blog- it's amazing- 

http://marmitelover.blogspot.com/

Elderflower fritters

8 -12 Elderflower heads

Oil for deep frying

Batter:

1 egg, beaten

200g sifted plain flour,

20g corn flour

180ml soda water or sparkling water, chilled

Sea Salt, to taste

• Mix all the batter ingredients in a bowl, salt to taste. Don't overwhisk the batter as it'll get too tough.
• Heat the oil in a deep fat fryer to around 190C. Dip the Elderflowers lightly in the batter, then deep fry until lightly golden. Sprinkle with a little sea salt and serve immediately.
• Option: sweet Elderflower fritters. Replace the salt with sugar and sprinkle with sugar. 

Step 3: Heat oil in pan and dip elderflowers into batter. Fry and flip until golden.

Step 4: Serve. We had ours with vanilla ice- cream and home grown strawberry. 

There was something really special about eating a dessert that had been handpicked in the park, then fried with ingredients in the cupboard and then my own strawberry. Could not stop smiling.

I washed the dessert down with nettle tea foraged by J in Ireland. I really admire her for making this tea- I'm a little scared of the sting!

PS- leftover fritter batter worked really well with bananas the following day. Not such a special feeling as the elderflowers though!