Foraging for the Essence of Summer

On the hunt for elderflowers

The heat is unrelenting and the humidity is kicking up a notch. It’s a typical June day in northern Indiana. As midsummer’s night approaches, I am trying to feel comfortable in the season. Light eating and plenty of fluids make my body happier in the summer. Today, despite the heat, I am off on my bike to explore. I’m looking for elderflowers. Every year, I concoct some type of liqueur as a way of capturing summer in a bottle and, if I can find some elderflowers, elderflower cordial will become my next project.

First, I bike out to the Pumpkinvine Nature Trail, hoping to see some elderberry bushes. Along the packed limestone path, there are zillions of flowering plants and many of them have lacy cream-colored flowers but I do not see the large dainty flowers of the elderberry. Poisonous hemlock is in abundance and I know I can’t touch that. So I pedal down to the Millrace bike trail, looking right and left as I go. The heat is rising and I am starting to sweat. All of a sudden, along the bank, I see several bushes with larger open flowers but they are in someone’s yard. I know Amy lives here so I park my bike and knock on the door. Before I get eaten alive by mosquitoes, Amy opens the door and invites me in. “I have a strange question. Any chance I can pick some of your elderflowers?” I ask. She and her husband, Greg, planted those bushes for their own harvest. They know all about the different strains. They pick the berries and make jams and juice, which they are having for breakfast this morning. Greg points me down the millrace. “I think you will find some further down. But if you don’t, please come back and get some.” As I leave, he offers me a jar of jam. With that gift in my backpack, I feel lucky.

I pedal on and, all of a sudden, I see elderberry bushes everywhere. You know how that goes. When you are thinking of something, there it is. I let down the kickstand on my bike, grab my scissors, pick just enough flowers for a small batch of liqueur and gently place them in my bag. The large flowers are made up of small clusters and even tinier flowers. They are delicate and beautiful. They smell a bit like a field in summer. I go home, pluck them and plunge them in alcohol where they will sit for several weeks. For another batch, I plunge the flowers in a hot sugar and lemon peel syrup and let them infuse. Later, I will add some alcohol.

This winter, when temperatures plummet and summer is just a dream, I hope to taste a little bit of summer, captured from those delicate flowers. This morning, though, I can’t wait to break into the jam jar. I butter a slice of my homemade sourdough bread and spread on the elderberry jam. Such goodness grows out in the wild. I plan on foraging and gathering more. I know the mulberry trees are bearing berries and, soon, my neighbors’ linden tree will be flowering and the blossoms will be ready to pick for linden tea. Summer, with its sun and rain, makes all these things grow. It’s time to take notice and live out the season to its fullest!

P.S.

Back in the day, when we lived out in the country, we also used the elderflowers in cooking, just as you would zucchini flowers. Dip them whole in an egg batter and fry them in a skillet for an appetizer.