Elderflower and Honeysuckle 'English Delight'

Quintessentially English flavour of the countryside on a summers day.

I'm not a huge Turkish delight fan, I love rose flavoured food and drinks but I think the Turkish delight that you can buy in England doesn't come close to the flavour of using fresh produce instead of rosewater and dye. Plus I have never actually used fresh elderflowers before, I am inexperienced in using wild flowers in the kitchen. This year was a chance to experiment with edible flowers and discover the flavours that were on offer- for free, from the hedgerows.

So this time of year the smell of wild garlic has been replaced by the gentle sweet scent of elderflower in the country lanes, spring is on it's way out.

The good news is, this is the best time of year to start looking out for wild flowers. 

I spotted some honeysuckle on my elderflower excursion- a taste that I haven't experienced since childhood when we used to pull it through the fence in the playground and suck on the flower to extract the sweet nectar. 

I decided the two would work well together in this English take on a traditional Turkish sweet. 

Before you even think about starting to make this, it's best to collect about 10 elderflower sprays and begin taking the flowers off them using a fork. It will take a while! 

You Will Need: 

10 Bronze Gelatin Leaves 

2 cups water 

3 cups caster sugar 

3 tablespoons lemon juice 

10 Sprays worth of elderflowers, removed (see image above) 

1 cup honeysuckle flowers 

1/2 cup cornflower 

1/2 cup water 

1 cup cornflour 

1/4 cup icing sugar

Method:

1. Place the Elderflowers, honeysuckle, 2 cups of water and lemon juice into a pan and heat gently to extract the flavour for about 5 minutes, stirring and squeezing the flowers gently. 
2. Using a fine sieve, extract the liquid from the flowers (squeeze to get all liquid out).
3. Meanwhile, soak the gelatin leaves in cold water.
4. Add the liquid from the flowers back into the pan and add the 3 cups of caster sugar. Heat gently until the sugar is dissolved and then remove from heat, let it cool slightly. 
5. Mix the 1/2 cup of cornflour and 1/2 cup of water into a paste and pour slowly into the syrup, whisking as you do so, put the pan back on the heat.
6. Squeeze excess water from the bloomed gelatin and add gelatin into your pan, whisk until dissolved.
7. Bring mixture to a boil, stirring constantly as it will thicken quite quickly.
8. Once boiled, it should clarify and bring mixture back down to a simmer and cook until it has thickened to a gloop like texture, continue whisking meanwhile and then remove from heat and let it cool for about half an hour. 
9. Mix 1 cup cornflour with 1/4 cup icing sugar in a separate bowl.
10. Line a baking dish with greaseproof paper and heaped tablespoon of your cornflour and icing sugar mix into the bottom and spread evenly. 
11. Once mixture has cooled, pour into your dish (see image below)
12. Leave to cool for an hour and then place into a fridge and let it set overnight. 
13. Turn it out and cut it into cubes and toss into the rest of your cornflour and icing sugar mix of which you can make more if needed.