Picked elderflowers to make cordial.

I’ve been wanting to use the flowers of my own elder bush/tree, but last time I looked, it was so badly infested with aphids that that wasn’t an option.

This year the situation was much, much better. A minority of the clusters of flowers (which, as I learned today, is called an umbel) had a small number of aphids, but most were clear. I picked a whole bunch of them. Not enough to make the amount of cordial I wanted, so I supplemented with white ones from bushes in nearby parks – in fact the whites were in majority – but enough to make it feel like “mine” and hopefully also enough to give it a nice pink colour.

Speaking of amounts and “enough”, the recipes for elderflower cordial are annoyingly vague. “25 to 30 large clusters of flowers”. How large is a large one? If I have small ones – which was the case for most of what I picked – then how many should I take instead? Why can’t they just provide the amount in grams, please.

Now I’m taking notes with proper measurements, and next year life will be easier. 120 clusters of mixed sizes tending towards small rather than large, weighing 500 grams in total. 6 lemons of, on average, 130 grams each. 4 litres of simple syrup (made with equal volumes of water and sugar).