abstract:Elderflower cordial is a soft drink made largely from a refined sugar and water solution and uses the flowers of the elderberry, also called Sambucus nigra. Historically the cordial has been popular in North Western Europe where it has a strong Victorian heritage, however versions of an elderflower cordial recipe can be traced back to Roman times and nowadays it can be found in almost all of the former Roman Empire territory, predominant in Central Europe, especially in Germany, Austria, Romania and Hungary where people have acquired a special taste for it and still make it in the traditional way.
In Cork, no less, in the 18th-century English Market, I sampled smoked mussels in vinaigrette, rock lobster from Kinsale, tender soda bread flavored with fennel seed, elderflowercordial, floury Golden Wonder potatoes and Yellowman toffee.