Bubbles and art!
There is nothing better than a nice cool glass of elderflower cordial in the summer, even better when it's mixed with something sparking! It is also the perfect accompaniment to a spot of painting, but first I'll show you how I made my cordial.
I am blessed to have a small elder tree at the bottom of my garden, and this produces enough flowers for me to make a small quantity of cordial whilst still being able to leave a lot of the flowers on the tree to become berries. The name elder is thought to come from 'aeld' the Anglo-saxon meaning for fire.
To make a small amount of elderflower cordial I use:
1 kg of white sugar
1 unwaxed lemon
12 fresh elderflower heads
40g citric acid
and 0.75 litres of water
I put the sugar in a bowl and added boiling water, stirring until the sugar was dissolved. To this I added the lemon and citric acid. I gave the elderflowers a rinse and added these to the bowl. I then left everything to infuse for 24 hours.
I strained the mixture through a large sieve and then again through a smaller one. Once the liquid was clear I put it into sterilised glass bottles ready to store in the fridge.
Now time for some art!
Painting elderflowers using watercolours, drawing ink and acrylic paint.
Drawing inks used to draw the elder branches, masking fluid is used to mask off the areas I want to keep white for the flower buds.
Layers of greens and yellow watercolours are built up to suggest the foliage of the tree and the hints of pale yellow in the flowers.
Using acrylic paint I added a textured layer to suggest the small open elderflowers. I built up textured petals with white acrylic paint and then added hints of green and yellow to suggest the pale yellow areas of the flowers and shadow.
Cheers!
You can find out more about elderflowers and harvesting them in @haphazard-hstead post Elder Flowers - How To Identify Wild Elderberry Shrubs - with tips on harvesting and storing their flowers
Very unique and beautifull art! Glad I stopped by to read ;-)
Fun fact: What is elderflower tea good for?
An extract of the flower is used to make medicine. Elderflower is used for swollen sinuses (sinusitis), colds, influenza (flu), swine flu, bronchitis, diabetes, and constipation. It is also used to increase urine production (as a diuretic), to increase sweating (as a diaphoretic), and to stop bleeding.
An amazing art @opheliafu.
Good to know, thanks @nzfxtrader
I need some of that- i'm suffering from a cold right now! I wonder if the cordial will help.
That's no good! I can recommend Turmeric for that... please read my article outlining the amazing healing benefits of this spice. Hope you get better soon!
https://steemit.com/health/@nzfxtrader/the-health-benefits-of-turmeric
Oh yes- I'm a fan of turmeric.
... and that's a follow from me! ;-)
God soon get Better u and i also wish to get well soon. Thanks
I love elderflowertea! Very delicious. I also put some into vodka and let it sit for a day to get the vodka infused with the taste. Yummy! :D
Ooh that sounds good- i wonder if that works with gin?
Lovely... elderflowers are so pretty (and useful!) even though many gardeners consider them a supremely "invasive" species.
I always have fond memories of them... my late cousin was the "elderberry king" in our family, often making wine and juice from the berries (an incredible source of antioxidants) as well as sometimes processing the flowers. Thanks for sharing... and bringing up old memories!
I'm watching those berries, hoping they will ripen soon. However, the blackbirds usually get to them before me so I'm yet to successfully have a harvest of elderberries.
That's a great painting of an elder flower! Thanks for the shout-out - but even more, thanks for the recipe for making the cordial. I've got some more flowers ready to harvest, so I'll be trying this! :D
You could add more lemon or lime to it too, that would be nice.
This is a recipe from River Cottage that includes orange, I might give that a go next year:
https://www.rivercottage.net/recipes/elderflower-cordial
Makes about 2 litres:
About 25 elderflower heads
Finely grated zest of 3 unwaxed lemons and 1 orange, plus their juice (about 150ml in total)
1.5 litres water
1kg sugar
1 heaped tsp citric acid (optional)
That sounds pretty good, too! So much goodness from the elder flowers! :D
I think your post is very informative and also could be used in other categories as well. It's almost poetic when you read certain parts of it.
Thank you very much!
cheers
Cheers!
Looks really yummie... @opheliafu
Thank you- it is! :D
I don't care that is below zero right now and I am wearing Ugg boots in front of a log fire - give me some of that! Seriously I really want to try making this.
I made this a couple of weeks ago- I'm waiting for the berries to change now so I can harvest some of those.
You could skip the elderflower cordial and go straight for the bubbly!
Sweet memories. I had that when being a child lost in time somewhere in eastern Europe...
It is delicious! I can't think of anything else that tastes so much like summer in a glass!
I love the progress pics you take of your painting, it's lovely to see it come together. And I just love elderflower cordial.
Thank you- nice feedback :D
Another great painting. Those drawing inks have a wonderful look to them, although I think that has more to do with the artist than the inks, haha.
And, thanks for the elderflower cordial recipe, I may have to try it sometime. I've only had elderflower and elderberry as a part of various store bought teas and so called health/vitamin drinks.
When I don't have my own in stock I usually buy Belvoir Elderflower Cordial.
I'll have to keep an eye out for it, thanks for the recommendation.
The art work is very beautiful . @opheliafu what are the health benefits of elderflower -I am sure that it will be very good for health-thanks for sharing
Thank you!
@nzfxtrader has given some good answers for that above.
Great. Do you know of Moringa? its one of the best
I love to drink fresh lemonades made with flowers. Just a view weeks ago the lindentrees were in blossom here in Berlin so I had a lot of tea and lemonade of them :) Awesome gifts of nature. Thanks for sharing your recipe and your nice painting <3
Linden trees- that sounds nice!
Beautiful! The cordial looks like a treat, how cool to have an eldertree in your back yard!
They kind of get self-seeded by the birds!
Oh even better!
Wow nice to know...amazing art ..
thank you !
You are so much talented..keep it up..keep
Wonderwoman, we've seen your bangle now we know!
Haha- I think you knew before the bangle!
Just amazing! Waitting for new posts))
A new one has just arrived!
like it and vote
I always
I am new an Artist as you …found it is a lot of fun if you like doing it ..
https://steemit.com/introducemyself/@jyotirmay/introducing-my-self-here-i-am-jyotirmay-drawing-artist
If you find it interesting UPVOTE and please click on the FOLLOW and let’s exchange comments in the future. Very much rewarding.
Good luck,
@jyotirmay
Lovely post! When you combine art with making a delicious cocktail, we are all about it! =)
I'd same it could be a new theme- but that may be a dangerous road to take!
nice beautiful amazing and fabulous art i never seen this type art i really i like this and very cool art. Hiii.. @opheliafu please upvote my comment thanks
Beautiful paintings @opheliafu! Definitely following you now! I love how you work with the paint thicknesses. I do the same in one of my pieces here: https://steemit.com/painting/@stanhopeofficial/03-the-discovery-original-painting
Cheers to your art! I've been wanting to make my own elderflower drinks. Love St. Elder and St. Germaine, so that recipe sounds really nice!
it's a very tasty drink!
WOW! What a beautiful technique to adopt. At first, I thought you had used the flowers inside your art to make it pop out, but then I realized it was acrylic that added the texture. It was so well done, I was fooled! XD
I also didn't know mixing both acrylic and watercolor had such a nice soothing effect. I really love this. :)
Thank you. I applied the acrylic thickly, then left it for a few minutes before shaping the surface to make each flower.
Fantastic post! I have been wanting to use the wild elder flowers that abound, and your recipe sounds perfect. Your painting is charming. Resteeming :)
Thank you! Happy foraging!
Omg! just amazing.
awesome and wonderful work of art
Thank you very much for all this information dear friend @opheliafu, congratulate spor this wonderful work, thank you very much for these beautiful gifts
Have a great weekend
Pleasant with useful :)
@opheliafu well done !!!
We have full storage of it, wife home made ones, nothing better in summer than this sirup.