How to avoid food guilt this Christmas
How to avoid food guilt this Christmas

IMAGE

‘For the first time, we weren’t alone… Somebody would listen to us’
‘For the first time, we weren’t alone… Somebody would listen to us’

Lia Hynes

This Christmas, hold space for those carrying the quiet burden of grief
This Christmas, hold space for those carrying the quiet burden of grief

Dominique McMullan

Inside the glittering Dublin home of jewellery designer, Chupi Sweetman-Durney
Inside the glittering Dublin home of jewellery designer, Chupi Sweetman-Durney

Megan Burns

‘For every festive freak, there are those who don’t consider this the most wonderful time of the year’
‘For every festive freak, there are those who don’t consider this the most wonderful time...

Suzie Coen

Five delicious vegetarian recipes to enjoy over the Christmas season
Five delicious vegetarian recipes to enjoy over the Christmas season

IMAGE

This year, let’s shatter the illusion of a “perfect” Christmas
This year, let’s shatter the illusion of a “perfect” Christmas

Amanda Cassidy

‘I was a child who received a Christmas shoebox. This is what it meant to me’
‘I was a child who received a Christmas shoebox. This is what it meant to...

Amanda Cassidy

An ode to Christmas Eve mass, the festive season’s greatest social occasion
An ode to Christmas Eve mass, the festive season’s greatest social occasion

Edaein OConnell

How to host Christmas without breaking the bank
How to host Christmas without breaking the bank

Megan Burns

Image / Living / Food & Drink

Your bank holiday weekend needs these cucumber and elderflower cordial popsicles


By Amanda Kavanagh
05th Jun 2021
Your bank holiday weekend needs these cucumber and elderflower cordial popsicles

In perhaps the gentlest of all the lockdown trends, it seems like the world and its Instagram-savvy mother is making elderflower cordial.

If you’re lucky enough to have an elderflower plant in your garden, you’ve almost definitely been making flower-infused elderflower cordial and “champagne”.

If like me, your garden is more industrial wasteland with a smattering of chipped pots, you might have found yourself cycling around your neighbourhood at twilight looking for the distinctive fluffy white flowerheads hanging over someone’s back wall.

You might have returned to said wall with extendable pruners hidden under an entirely unnecessary-in-20-degree-heat long coat.

elderflower cordial recipe

I say “might”, of course, as any similarity to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

If you’ve a glut of elderflower cordial, and you’re looking for recipe ideas, we’ve gone through the IMAGE archives to this 2018 midsummer feast, concocted by Orla Neligan and Julianne Brogan of BlackSheep Foods, and captured by Liosa McNamara.

Cucumber and edible flower popsicles

cucumber and elderflower cordiial popsicle

Serves 6

INGREDIENTS

  •  selection of edible flowers
  • 120ml elderflower cordial [try Richmount Cordial Company if you haven’t homemade]
  • 710ml water
  • sliced cucumber

METHOD

  • Place edible flowers and cucumbers into ice pop moulds.
  • Mix elderflower cordial and water in a large jug and gently pour into your moulds, being careful not to move the flowers too much.
  • Insert your ice pop stick and place in the freezer until frozen solid.
  • To remove from the moulds, gently heat the top of the mould in warm water until your ice pop comes free.Other ideas for popsicles could be strawberries and champagne, cucumber and gin, and for kids,  lemonade and mint or mixed berries.