I wasn't totally sure about Elderflower Cordial I made a month ago, at the time I had said I thought it tasted too sweet and needed a bit of tartness. After a bit of experimenting with adding lemon juice I decided to go for it and add citric acid to the whole lot.

Citric acid wasn't the easiest stuff to find but I eventually tracked some down it a local independent cookery shop. They had small 100g tubs in the brewing section, but when I took 3 to the till the assistant kindly offered me a 500g bag from under the counter. I didn't realise it was such a sought after ingredient until I was looking round for recipes and found out that others were having trouble finding it too. You can buy it online if you're prepared to wait a few days for delivery.

The amount to add varied from recipe to recipe, so I plumped with an approximation to the one we got off our friend Sarah which was about 50g a litre.

Click for Elderflower Cordial recipe.

Recipe Costs

In addition to the costs from the previous recipe

£0.65 100g citric acid

Out the bottles came from the fridge,  and it was all brought to a simmer on the stove again and the citric acid dissolved in. Back in the bottles and fingers crossed.

Taste Test

Much nicer, still has the scent of elderflowers but isn't too sweet. 

image source wikimedia commons

1. Citric Acid is a weak organic acid, its molecular formula is C6H8O7

2. Lemons and limes have particularly high concentrations of the acid; it can constitute as much as 8% of the dry weight of these fruits.

3. At room temperature, citric acid is a white crystalline powder, you can buy it from cookery or brewing supplies shops.

4. Commercially produced citric acid is mainly used for preserving soft fruit drinks, and in home wine making.

5. Citric acid is used as a flavoring in many preparations of Vitamin C.

6. It is a natural preservative and is also used to add an acidic, or sour, taste to foods and soft drinks, for example in elderflower cordial.

7. It is denoted by E number E330

8. Citric acid is the active ingredient in some bathroom and kitchen cleaning solutions. A solution with a 6% concentration of citric acid will remove hard water stains from glass without scrubbing.

9. Industrial-scale citric acid production began in 1890 based on the Italian citrus fruit industry.

10. Most citric acid is now produced by feeding sugar to Aspergillus niger bacteria.