The wild one: The beauty of pickled elderflowers is in their floral acidity

What’s another year? Johnny Logan famously asked that question in his Eurovision winning song of 1980. “How long is a year?” my daughter asks me. “It’s 365 days,” I reply. I’m not sure if that answers her question. If I answered that a year is the time taken by Earth to make one revolution around the sun, would that be clearer? Maybe then she would ask me what time was.

An easy way would be to tell her that when the elderflowers have appeared again – a whole year has passed since we last picked them. At least then she’ll have a personal connection to what a year means.

May is one of my favourite months for foraging. Over the years you accumulate places where you know the flowers grow – by old ruins of houses, near the racecourse, on aroadside in Co Clare.

It’s always nice to return to these places are see that the flowers are in bloom. Occasionally, the tree is gone, but more often than not, all is as it was. A year has passed but the new flowers give the appearance of sameness: the sweet smell of heavily scented elderflowers.

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How to make pickled elderflowers

Pickled elderflowers work with everything from goat’s cheese to monkfish, from braised carrots and roast pork. The beauty is in their floral acidity. I prefer them to lemons or lime. An added bonus is that the liquor you are left with can be used as elderflower vinegar, to season oysters and other shellfish.

To make pickled elderflowers, take 300ml of white wine vinegar, 200ml of water and 100g of sugar. Place in a pot and bring to the boil. Take 10 bunches of elderflowers and give them a little look-over to make sure there are no insects living in them. Place in a plastic container and pour the boiling pickling liquid over the flowers. Leave for a week in a cold dark place (or in the fridge). Use the flowers to give acidity to salads and the remaining vinegar in dressings.