Drink recipe: strawberry elderflower shrub

An easy & refreshing mocktail, ideally for your Midsummer celebrations and all other warmer days of the year. I promise, it won’t just taste like lemonade :).

WHAT YOU NEED (for 1 mocktail):

• 1 jar with a lid (for about 300-500ml)

• strawberries or other berries of your choice, about a handful

• 1 good tbsp apple vinegar

• 4cl elderflower cordial

• (Sparkling) water

• ice cubes or crushed ice, whatever you prefer

• optional: a few basil leaves

• 1 fork or mortar to mash your berries

1. Take a handful strawberries and your basil leaves and put them into your jar.

2. Then take a fork or mortar to mash your berries.

3. Mix in 4cl or about 2 tbsp of elderflower cordial (find a recipe here) and 1 tbsp of good, cloudy apple vinegar.

4. Add ice. Cubes or crushed ice, whatever available and what you prefer.  Close the jar (using the lid) and shake it. Now you can fill up the jar with cold (sparkling) water.

5. To make the presentation extra pretty, garnish your drink with a strawberry and/or basil leaf at the end. Enjoy!

Munich-born Elisabeth Grindmayer lives on an 100-year-old forest farm in the wild nature of Southern Sweden. She works as freelance photographer and author (for magazines, publishers, and brands), primarily in the areas of food, kitchen gardening and slow living. With the help of the 50 recipes and stories of her new cookbook, "A Year in Sweden" (Hölker Verlag 2024), she takes her readers on a culinary and visual journey to her newly chosen home in Sweden. Learn more about here here: elisabethgrindmayer.com

Get ready for a heiter summer: how to make elderflower cordial

No summer goes by without elderflower cordial—at least in our house. This is a recipe that I shared in the free heiter mini e-zine (for newsletter subscribers) a while ago. I hope you’ll enjoy it too!

Katharina x

WHAT YOU NEED (for 2.5 litres of cordial)

• 30 elderflower clusters

• 3 large lemons

• 1.5 litres of water

• 50g citric acid

• 1.5kg sugar

1. Put the clusters in a big bowl (that holds about 5 litres of liquid).

2. Scrub the lemons under hot water, slice them and add them to the clusters in the bowl.

3. Bring the water to boil. Add the citric acid and sugar. Stir so that the acid and sugar dissolve.

4. Pour the hot water in the bowl with the clusters and lemon slices.

5. Cover the bowl with a lid and let the cordial rest for three days.

6. Strain the liquid and pour it in bottles. Store them in the fridge.

Our elderflower cordial is also part of the strawberry elderflower shrub recipe here on blog. The refreshing mocktail is ideal for summer parties, picnics and Midsummer celebrations.