Preserving
The Wild Pantry: Elderflower Cordial, Wild Garlic Pesto & Sloe Vinegar
Three jars that turn a spring walk into a year of flavour, with foraging rules that keep the patch alive.
2 May 2026 8 min read Serves 12
Foraging notes
Elderflower in late May, wild garlic in April shade, sloes after the first frost.
Foraging is only sustainable if the patch is still there next year. Take a third, leave the rest, and never dig roots you did not plant.
These three preserves cover the whole wild calendar: flowers in spring, leaves before them, and fruit at the end of the season.
Best months
Ingredients
- 25 elderflower heads, shaken not washed
- 1.5kg sugar + 1.5L water + 2 lemons (cordial)
- 150g wild garlic leaves
- 60g toasted hazelnuts, 60g hard cheese, 150ml rapeseed oil (pesto)
- 300g sloes, pricked
- 500ml cider vinegar + 100g sugar (sloe vinegar)
Method
Cordial
Dissolve sugar in boiling water, cool slightly, add sliced lemons and flower heads. Steep 24 hours, strain through muslin, bottle and refrigerate.
Pesto
Blitz wild garlic, hazelnuts and cheese, then trickle in the oil. Season hard — wild garlic can take it. Cover with a film of oil in the jar.
Sloe vinegar
Prick the sloes, cover with vinegar and sugar, seal and leave somewhere dark for six weeks, shaking weekly. Strain and bottle.
Label everything
Date each jar. Cordial keeps 4 weeks chilled (or freeze in ice cubes), pesto 2 weeks, vinegar a year.
Kitchen tip: Pick elderflower on a dry, sunny morning — the pollen carries the flavour, so never rinse it.
