Elderberry Flower Fritters

It’s Spring and here in Snohomish, Washington, the elderflowers are blooming and abundant. There are lots of things to appreciate about elderflowers. It is beautiful and the white blossoms bring a bit of joy to my season as we tend to live in the rhythm of the seasons on our little homestead so we are closely connected to the phenology of the world around us. From an herbalists standpoint, the black and blue elderberries have antiviral and antibacterial properties. The blossoms are some of the first of the season and therefore provide much needed bee forage in our area. While there are all good enough reasons to love elderflowers, I also love to cook with them. Elderberry blossom fritters are a seasonal favorite that I will share a basic recipe with you here.

*Like with many foods, if you haven’t eaten it before, it’s best to just try an appetizer sized portion to be sure it agrees with you.

INGREDIENTS

A dozen’ish elderberry flowers, no stems

1 cup flour (white wheat is fine but you can also use tapioca)

1 beaten egg

17 ounces, approx. Sparkling water or ice water if you have no-sparkling water (You will need to adjust the water for your flour type. The batter should be like thin pancake batter)

A ¼ tsp salt

*Option- sometimes I will add a splash of white white, champagne, apple cider or beer for a change

Place the flour in a bowl. Make a “well in the middle of the flour and add the beaten egg. Stir together and then slowly begin to add the sparkling water. Do not leave clumps of flour and stir well. Add salt and stir again.

Heat oil for frying. I like to use a small, deep pot so the blossoms can basically deep fry. I use coconut oil for my high heat needs. Dredge the blossoms in the batter (no need to completely cover the thing but give it a good dip and roll it over so that both sides get batter. Carefully lower it to the hot oil. And cook them for a 20’ish seconds on each side. It’ll depend on how thick your batter is and how large your blossom is as well as how much batter covers it with.