Nothing tastes better than an ice cream on a hot sunny day and what better way to cool off in this current heatwave than by making your own "wild" ice cream.
We went out and picked elderflowers to make elderflower, orange and lemon ice cream. The basis of it is elderflower cordial so this is effectively two simple recipes in one.
Enjoy!
Elderflower Cordial recipe
- 18 heads of elderflower (I advise not to wash them, but just to pick off any bugs)
- 500g caster sugar (white)
- 4 tablespoons good quality runny honey
- 2 unwaxed lemons
Put the sugar and honey in a large pan and cover with 1 litre of water. Bring the liquid to the boil, until all the sugar is dissolved before removing from the heat. Finely grate the zest of the lemons, add to the water then add the elderflower, ensuring the flowers are completely submerged. Squeeze in the juice from one of the lemons, then slice the other and add to the mixture. Leave to infuse for 24 hours with a lid on.
When you are ready to strain the cordial you can either line a fine sieve with muslin over a large bowl. We used a good quality kitchen towel to pour the cordial through - it works like muslin, however it tends to be a slightly slower process. Store in sterilised bottles or jars.
Elderflower ice cream recipe
- 130g baking caster sugar (white)
- 50ml lemon juice
- 100ml elderflower cordial
- Finely grated zest of ½ lemon
- Finely grated zest of ½ small orange
- 300g creme fraiche
- 300g double cream
Put the sugar in a saucepan, pouring over 230ml of water and turn the heat up high. This needs to cook for between three and four minutes, until the sugar has dissolved and the water is just starting to simmer. Make you sure you stir during this process. Then, leave to cool before stirring in your Elderflower cordial, lemon juice and orange and lemon zest.
Gently whisk the double cream and creme fraiche in a large bowl, then slowly add in the sugar syrup, continuing to stir as you do. Pour or ladle the mixture into an ice-cream machine and churn until frozen, then move to a sealed container and whack it in the freezer!
If you don’t have an ice-cream machine you can pour the mixture into a freezer-proof covered container and freeze. After half an hour, give the mix a good whisk and put it back into the freezer for another 30 minutes. Repeat this process two or three more time before leaving it to freeze solid.