Darina Allen: Sweet ways to use up elderflower and green gooseberries

Elderflower and gooseberries - perfect partners, just in season.

I’ve just picked a bowl full of fresh green gooseberries. They’re about the size of hazelnuts, still tart and underripe but at their best for pies, fools, jams and jellies. 

It’s difficult to convince people that these hard green berries are so good at this stage, not for nibbling, but for cooking. Try them.

My guide for when they’re ready to pick is when I spy the first of the elderflowers blooming in the hedgerows in late May and early June. 

Nature has cleverly arranged that gooseberries and elderflowers are in season at the same time of year. 

The combination of flavours is a marriage made in heaven. 

All the more mysterious because the white frothy umbelliferous heads of elderflowers, made up of hundreds of tiny flowers, have a slight musky smell and rather unpleasant taste when fresh, which disappears and becomes deliciously muscat flavoured when cooked. 

I wonder who first discovered the combination of flavours, which I first read about in Jane Grigson’s ‘Good Things’, one of my most treasured cookbooks.

For over 4,000 years, the early summer elderflowers and the elderberries in autumn have been used as medicine, the elder tree often referred to as the ‘country folks’ medicine chest’. 

Elderflower has many essential vitamins, and is known for its anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and antioxidant properties.

Gooseberry bushes are horribly prickly. Picking the berries can be tedious but I’ve got a brilliant tip for you (courtesy of David Cullinane). 

Put your hand underneath the base of a branch of gooseberries, grasp, then run your cupped hand up towards the tip. 

The leaves and berries will come off together, but the leaves will protect you from the prickles. Try it!

Green gooseberries and elderflowers both freeze well. 

Gooseberries can be frozen just as they are but it’s a good idea to tray-freeze the elderflowers first, then store them in layers interleaved with parchment paper in a covered plastic box in the freezer. Try dehydrating them too, they’ll last for months in an airtight jar.

Elderflowers add magic to so many drinks and dishes - elderflower lemonade, syrups, jams, cordials, desserts, cakes, ice cream, popsicles and of course elderflower champagne. 

The latter is so much fun to make with children. They love how it fizzes up within a couple of days - all the more exciting if you show them how to identify and gather the elderflowers themselves, a gift for life.

Gooseberry & Elderflower Fool

recipe by:Darina Allen

So simple to make but so good. As the summer goes on and the gooseberries mature, less sugar is needed for this fool. The base purée freezes well, a terrific standby for a quick dessert another time.

Servings

6

Preparation Time

 20 mins

Total Time

 20 mins

Course

 Baking

Ingredients

• 450g green gooseberries, topped and tailed

• 3-4 elderflower headsstock syrup (dissolve 175g granulated sugar in 300ml water, bring to the boil for 2 minutes, cool completely)

• To serve:

• whipped cream

• shortbread biscuits

Method

1. Barely cover the green gooseberries and the elderflower heads with the stock syrup. Bring to the boil and cook until the fruit bursts, about 5-6 minutes.

2. Liquidise, purée or mash the fruit and syrup and measure. When the purée has cooled completely, add one third to half of its volume of softly whipped cream according to taste.

3. Note: If you want to make the fool a little less rich, use less cream, and fold in one stiffly beaten egg white instead.

Green Gooseberry & Elderflower Jam

recipe by:Darina Allen

It’s worth growing a gooseberry bush just to make this jam alone. The gooseberries should be green and tart and hard - as soon as the elderflowers are in bloom, search for gooseberries under the prickly bushes, or seek them out in your greengrocer or far

Servings

6

Preparation Time

 15 mins

Cooking Time

 25 mins

Total Time

 40 mins

Course

 Baking

Ingredients

• 1.6kg tart green gooseberries

• 5-6 elderflower heads

• freshly squeezed juice of 2 lemons

• 900g sugar

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C/gas mark 3.

2. Top and tail the gooseberries and put into a wide stainless steel saucepan or preserving pan with the elderflowers tied in muslin and the lemon juice and enough water to measure 300ml. Simmer until the gooseberries burst.

3. Warm the sugar in a bowl in the oven for about 10 minutes.

4. Remove the elderflowers and add the warm sugar, stirring until it has completely dissolved. Boil rapidly for about 10 minutes until setting point is reached (200°C on a jam thermometer) or put a teaspoonful on a cold plate, leave in a cool place for a few minutes, then if the jam wrinkles when pushed with the finger it has reached setting point. This jam should be a fresh green colour, so be careful not to overcook it.

5. Pour into hot clean sterilise jars, cover and store in a dry, airy cupboard. It will keep for 6-12 months but is best enjoyed when it’s fresh.

6. Makes 6 x 150g jars.

Elderflower Champagne

recipe by:Darina Allen

This magical recipe transforms perfectly ordinary ingredients into a delicious sparkling drink. The children make it religiously every year and then share the bubbly with their friends.

Course

 Dessert

Ingredients

• 1 lemon

• 2 heads of elderflowers

• 560g sugar

• 2 tbsp white wine vinegar

• 4.5 litres water

Method

1. Remove the peel from the lemon with a swivel top peeler.

2. Pick the elderflowers in full bloom. Put into a bowl with the lemon peel, lemon juice, sugar, vinegar and cold water.

3. Leave for 24 hours, then strain into strong screw top bottles.

4. Lay them on their sides in a cool place.

5. After 2 weeks it should be sparkling and ready to drink. Despite the sparkle this drink is non-alcoholic.

6. Top Tip: The bottles need to be strong and well-sealed, otherwise the elderflower champagne will pop its cork.

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