good quality — that is to say, the bees should not have been fed on sugar
during the winter, and the honey should not have been heat-treated.
Some rain forest honeys are good for this, or maple syrup. Add one
tablespoon of lemon juice. Alternatively, you can puree the onions, garlic,
and syrup together, which is quicker but requires more syrup.
Elder fl ower and elderberry compote syrup: Just as fruit compotes
are made throughout the summer in Europe, you can make herbal
compotes, adding herbs as they come into fl ower or fruit. Use vegetable
glycerin, runny honey or maple syrup, and lemon juice if desired, instead
of the brandy and sugar used in conventional recipes for fruit compotes.
Begin with elder fl owers, which appear in June; their white, fl at
petticoats should be picked just as they burst out of their buds. Pull the
white fl owers off the green stalks and put them into a wide-necked jar.
You can add more every day or so, but each time cover the fl owers with
the vegetable glycerin or maple syrup. For a combined mix, a good ratio
is roughly a pint of vegetable glycerin to a cup of maple syrup to a
tablespoon of fresh lemon juice. A cheaper version uses only vegetable
glycerin with a tablespoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice added to every
pint of glycerin.
Stand this mix outside to catch all available sunshine, but if the weather
is relentlessly cold and gray, keep it in a warm, but not hot, place indoors.
As time goes by, the fl owers will compact and the upper part of the jar
will contain only syrup. Add more fl owers and fi ll the gap, but never let
the fl owers rise above the syrup; this often proves diffi cult! Shake daily,
preferably more than once, to keep them down, because if the fl owers
don’t remain in the syrup, they will oxidize, turn brown, and ferment.
After at least two weeks, you can strain the syrup off from the fl owers,
discard the fl owers, and then add fresh ones to increase the strength.
In Britain and Canada in September and October, the wine-red
elderberries of Sambucus nigra appear (a variety which is safe and healthy
to eat and which is made into cough syrups due to its highly antiviral
compounds); collect these when fully ripe but not moldy in any way and
add them to the strained syrup, this time pureeing the whole lot in order
to crush the berries. The resulting syrup is thick and full-bodied. Shake
daily. You can likewise place it in any dwindling autumn sunshine, and
strain and add more berries if you wish. The resulting brew, which is
ready to consume by mid to late October, is so tasty that everyone who
samples it will let you know immediately that they feel a little shivery — so
make plenty!
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