These elderflower fritters made great light summer desert. The sparkles of the lemonade make the batter light and crispy and the sweetness and sharpness compliment the elderflowers wonderfully. The shape of the flower heads makes deep frying them a reasonably safe and easy doddle.
The end of May and beginning of June are elderflower season. In my house that means bottles of cordial bubbles and fizz stacking up in cool dark cupboards.
This year I’d foolishly forgotten to up my bottle stash beforehand sufficiently. Therefore I was looking at lemonade bottles and thinking it was too early in the day for a glass of Pimms, but I really wanted it to be empty.
Randomly and what initially felt like slightly unhelpfully elderflower fritters came to mind. I’ve not played with these much in the past, as deep frying is something I’ve never felt too comfortable with. Next my brain remembered about tempura, and how it can be made with sparkling water to make it extra light and crispy. Followed rapidly by the combined idea of elderflower fritters in a lemonade based batter.
I tested them and concluded that I am a genius! Thank you brain.
Elderflower Fritters with Lemonade
Equipment
- 200ml Sunflower Oil you want a good 2cm over the bottom of your pan – it depends on your pan size how much this will be.
- 1 Deep pan wide enough to fit in at least one elderflower head.
Ingredients
- 15-18 Elderflower Heads tap them gently to remove any hitchhikers.
- 100 G Plain white flour
- 250 Ml lemonade
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- Pinch Salt
Instructions
- Heat the Oil to a medium heat.
- Add the flour, lemonade, sugar and salt and mix the batter in a wide bowl.
- Add a drop of batter into the oil and check it bubbles without blackening for 30 seconds. (Then remove it, adjust the temperature as needed)
- Dip one elderflower head into the mix and ensure the petals are coated in batter mix. Hold the stem end out the mix.
- Gently shake off excess batter.
- Carefully without dripping it all over the place, and holding it by the stem place it into the hot oil. It should bobble and steam tremendously at first then settle down.
- Remove when it starts to brown at the edges. Shake any excess oil off, put on a plate and enjoy.
It is worth noting that all parts of the Elder tree, apart from the flowers and berries contain trace levels of cyanide. So as you eat the fritters pick the flowers off. Personally, I found this impossible to do completely, so I won’t eat these in large quantities. They feel incredibly decedent so you probably won’t want to anyway. Find out more about the elder tree here, and check out our blog on the legalities of foraging here.
