Hiding from the rain outside, I turned our first berry harvest, mint and lavender we grew, and edible flower blossoms from the garden into syrups (or non-alcoholic cordial if you prefer). I don’t want to buy juice anymore and needed an alternative to elderflower syrup, as those are out of season.

Note: The video version of this post gets released on Monday, July 29, 2024.

The first harvests of the year brought the first preservation at home. We had more white currant than we could eat fresh. We were also running low on syrup to use instead of juice, so I decided to make syrup–and not just from currants. And this time, I did not use sugar, either.

I was set on never buying juice from the store again. Mango juice is not sustainable here. And it came in plastic-compound packaging, to boot.

I ferment kombucha, but we needed more options. I can only drink so much kombucha.

Of course, some of the currants will be eaten fresh with some honey. We won’t preserve all of them.

One of the problems with replacing juice was that I needed enough flavor options to get us through the year. We would not get far with a liter or two of currant syrup.

We’d love the elderflower syrup I’d made earlier in the year. We’d also enjoyed the rhubarb syrup. So, I tried a few options: mint, lavender, and mixed flower blossoms of edible flowers.

I only have two syrup recipes: one for fruit, and one for infusions. They are at the bottom of this post.

For better storage, we add bottled lemon juice to each batch. The lemon slices are mostly for flavor.

I left them all to infuse in the fridge for a few days, and headed to the garden.

While I couldn’t do anything for the syrup, I dealt with the many potatoes from our first harvest. If you’ve seen the previous episode: these are the potatoes you watched my husband harvest.

They are from the confusingly-numbered bed one, so these are Queen Anne potatoes. As early potatoes, they have thin skins. I am very happy with how these look and feel.

With music on my ears (sorry, I don’t remember what I was listening to), I cleaned them all up.

I was also very happy with the weight: 3.5 kilos of Queen Anne. Nicely done, your majesties.

I chopped some up for dinner. We would probably roast them in the air fryer later, so I’d soak them in some water until then.

I placed the rest into the basket. They’ll be stored on the floor under a shelf.

And then it was time to fail at something new: cough drops for my husband.

I later found out the honey had too much water in it because of the endless rain. Everything is suffering!

These wouldn’t fully set. I’d scrape these off and melt them into syrup the next day… I’ll try again soon.

While everyone and everything was sick of the rain, the inca cucumber is loving the water. No flowers yet, though.

I was hiding indoors, and glad to have syrup to deal with. First, the second batch of white currants. I’d drained the first batch a few days earlier.

The syrup was nice and thick, so I bottled it up into 500-mL canning bottles.

There was a bit left in the jug to try with some water. As always, I did not waste any of it. Yum! Yes, I could have just added this to the glass. But I’d accidentally used warm water. Ahem.

We leave non-fruit syrups to infuse for 2-3 days. It was now time to strain them. Or whatever this is instead… I ate all the honey-soaked mint, of course.

These are European-style canning bottles. I know they are different from what’s used in the US.

The main reason I like them: the seal is separate, and can be reused quite a few times before replacing. The little rim clips hold the seal tight during canning. You remove them after cooling.

Next up: lavender from the garden. Of course, with lemon. I really hope to grow lemons at some point.

I am working hard on figuring out how to buy a plot in Spain. There, lemons would grow well. There are lemon seeds in soil at this very moment.

But we’ll talk about all of that when I have a mental breakdown in one of the next episodes. For now, let’s stay with pretty syrups.

The blossoms were especially pretty. I’d made this one with just lemon juice. I’d run out of lemons. I also wanted to know if it made a difference. Lemons are not locally grown here.

These sat in the fridge for a few days until I got around to canning them.

They store for a month in the fridge without canning, so I don’t worry about it.
Now, we’ll have months to drink these. They won’t last that long.

So long, and thanks for being here.

Infused Syrup

1 kg sugar or 500 g honey
1 liter water
2 lemons (optional)
flowers or herbs of choice (e.g. mint, lavender, edible flower blossoms)
4 tablespoons of lemon juice

Dissolve the sweetener of choice in water and bring to a simmer. Pour over flowers/herbs in a bowl.

Infuse for 1-3 days in the fridge. Strain.

Berry Syrup

1200 g berries
1 kg sugar or 500 g honey
2-3 cups water (depending on how much water cooks out of berries)
2 lemons (optional)

Cook on low to medium heat. If the berries don’t release a lot of juice, add water. Cook until the berries are nice and soft. Strain once cool.

Both versions can be canned as well. We do 90 degrees for 45 minutes but follow your favorite canning book.