Elderflower Syrup

Let me tell you about elderflower syrup, and why it's worth knowing before you pour it.

This is syrup made from the flowers of the elder bush — light, golden, sweet. So smell it first, right there in the shop. A good syrup smells like a meadow after rain, soft and floral, a touch like muscat grapes. If all you get is boiled sugar and nothing else, put it back and try another.

Once you open a bottle, keep it in the fridge, the way you would any open syrup. Give it a sniff each time before you pour. A good bottle still smells of that meadow. If it starts smelling flat, only sweet, or sour, that bottle has had its day — don't use it.

Some people say it's just flavoured sugar water, so storage doesn't matter. No! Leave an open bottle sitting out on a warm shelf for weeks, and when you finally pour it, you'll smell the difference with your own nose — the flowers are gone, and what's left won't lift a drink the way it should.

Use it cold, mostly, though a splash in warm tea does no harm. Just don't boil it — the scent goes with the steam.