Flower power!

So if you saw someone stopped in the middle of the road on a country lane near Bath one night after 11pm in June at full moon picking flowers using his van headlights - it might just probably have been me.

I got a good two bags of elderflowers that night - the bag above was one of them, just saw them shining in the headlights on the side of the road and had to stop. As you do. There's no time to waste in this business.

After soaking in water they lasted (along with another couple of bag's worth picked along the old railway in Tewkesbury) a good two months worth of parties & weddings for elderflower poached salmon / chicken (see more of that here: http://www.thecotswoldfoodyear.com/2007/06/chicken-in-elderflower.html)

Also in June we did a few parties at Upper Court, and it seemed wrong not to use the flowers in their kitchen garden. A month previously it had been the chive flowers that had gone on the dishes we made, now it was the turn of the sage and mint flowers which were abundant at that time - taste amazing too!

Spinach, herby cream cheese and smoked trout roulade canape - with flower.

Sage flowers on strawberry meringue roulade

Sage flowers also on tirimisu