Elderberry Blossom Iced Tea (W/Optional Additions)

Submitted by COOKGIRl

"Basic tea recipe from ehow.com and elaborated by yours truly. *Be very certain* the flowers you use for this recipe are not sprayed with pesticides and are the edible variety! We grow the European 'Black Lace' Elderberry with soft pale pink flowers. A visually striking plant! Experiment with other additions to the iced tea-don't limit yourself only to what I have suggested below. A note that elderberry is a unique, *acquired* taste for some."

 

• Ready In: 25mins
• Ingredients: 10
• Yields: 6 cups

ingredients

• 2 -4 elderberries, flower blooms (remove the blooms from the main stem)
• filtered water, for boiling
• ice cube

• Additions (suggestions)

• rose water
• orange blossom water
• lemon slices (grapefruit?) or lime slice (grapefruit?)
• Agave (or other sugar of choice) or honey (or other sugar of choice)
• of fresh mint (apple mint, pineapple mint, orange mint, etc.)
• fresh lemon verbena, lemon balm or pineapple sage
• cinnamon (if you're brewing hot tea) or cardamom (if you're brewing hot tea)

directions

1. Pick fresh elder flowers from an elderberry tree. Remove the blooms from the stems and discard stems.
2. Place 2 to 4 fresh elder flowers in a heatproof bowl. (I tested this recipe using 3 stems of elderflowers and 6 cups of water).
3. Boil the water.
4. Pour the boiled water over the flowers to cover.
5. Cover the bowl and allow the flowers to steep for about 10 minutes.
6. Strain the tea and set aside to cool then refrigerate until well chilled. (Can also be served hot.).
7. To serve, pour the chilled tea over ice cubes. Stir in your favorite additions.
8. I floated a few of the individual blossoms on top of the tea.