Elderflower

About

Elderflower has a complex, rounded flavor on its own but is delicate and easily overwhelmed. Like many flowers, it doesn't hold up to cooking, so blossoms are typically steeped in sugar syrup to extract their flavor. Fresh, high-quality blossoms are creamy-white with visible greenish-yellow pollen, and aroma can vary noticeably between different bushes or trees.

Pairs well with elderflower

• CiLemonCitrus and elderflower share several aromatic compounds, and citrus's acidity further enhances elderflower's flavor, since many of the…
• FrAppleElderflower contains a compound called hotrienol, which has a sweet, woody, faintly tropical character that lifts fruit and honey flavors.
• BeMintA grassy, hedgerow-like pairing rather than a sweet, floral one, since mint's nettle-like aroma grounds elderflower's usual lightness.
• ChCheeseElderflower's floral, herbal, faintly citrus flavor - sharing a "catty" aromatic note with Sauvignon Blanc, gooseberry, and black currant…
• FfHoneyElderflower liqueurs such as St-Germain are often described as tasting like what a bee would taste diving into a flower, carrying both…
• SuCornThe Milanese cookie pan de mej is made with cornmeal (sometimes millet flour instead), wheat flour and dried elderflowers; a…
• CrPruneThe two appear together in a prune and elderflower compote from A.A.
• BeGooseberryA now-classic pairing that was little known before Jane Grigson popularized it in her 1971 book Good Things.
• BeElderberryElderflower lightens elderberry's heavier flavor and adds floral perfume, similar to how orange flower water lifts orange juice in…
• CrPassion fruitAn intense pairing best served chilled, which mellows the combined punch of both flavors into something enjoyable in a drink or an ice.
• FfLycheeElderflower and lychee share a pronounced rose oxide note, the green-floral aroma compound found in fresh rose petals.