Addmore Elderflower Cordial - Original product reviews

Addmore Elderflower Cordial turned up in my little box of treasures to review. The first thing I noticed was the simple, elegant and eye catching label. What stood out most was the bold NZ on the top left side (of the label) and upon closer inspection the perfect words of "Handmade in New Zealand with Pure Passion" what a perfect way to sum up the love that has gone into every aspect of this product. There has been though in the bottle, the size and weight of it, the label, the short list of ingredients and lack of preservatives.

Upon opening a lovely floral scent that reminds me of spring and Canterbury delighted my senses. I was impressed that this little bottle makes more than 4 litres of product. I decided to make a nice cold jug of it to enjoy with afternoon tea with the children. It reminded me of the Elderflower cordial I had many years ago - I love that food can bring back happy memories. Master 8 and Master 6 (who is often led my Master 8) were surprised at the light taste and thought it was a treat to be having!

I look forward to trying this in cocktails as summer arrives as there are so many options to add this unique flavour to. I will also try it on salad in a homemade dressing - I am sure it will be just perfect with fresh berries, spinach and slivered almonds.

I felt very lucky this round of reviews to receive both the Addmore Elderflower Cordial and a bottle of the Sparkling original - so was set for drinks and mixers for the next couple of weeks! I decided that as well as making it up into a drink (the most obvious thing to do with it) I was going to try it as a jelly also.

With the idea of having jelly now in my head, I made up a 1/2 litre, poured it into my jelly bowl, and at the last minute decided to pop some frozen berries into the mix too - hoping that it would entice the kids to try it! Popping it into the fridge I got afternoon tea ready for the kids.

Trying it out on the 3 kids was the first step, so I made up a 1/2 litre jug, knowing that if they liked it, they would ask for more. Sitting down to afternoon tea, at which time I usually have a coffee, I opted to have a glass of the Elderflower cordial instead. Mixing it up was easy - and you can definitely alter it to your taste - sweeter, or not as sweet by tasting and adding more cordial or water.

Miss 8 was first to try it, and remarked that it was "like drinking a flower". When pressed she said it was a bit sweet and like a lemon too". Miss 6 said it was like "the juice you normally give me" - which is juice with a substantial amount of water in it, and Master 4 just said it was "yum" and wanted more! I had a sniff and then took my first sip. It tasted to me like a chilled herbal tea - a bit flowery and citrus-y, and it was definitely something enjoyable!

Fast forward to after dinner, and checking the jelly - I found it to be ready. I dished up some to each of us, and had a try. It was nice - but not overly strong as a jelly, to make it next time I would add more of the cordial, to sweeten the jelly. The fruit was really nice in it and I can see as a summery dessert with ice cream - oh my goodness - would be FANTASTIC!

At first glance, $12 for a bottle of cordial syrup does appear pricey, but it makes a decent amount. I would not probably have it as an everyday drink, more saving it for an occasion. I would like to try it with hot water and also made into cocktails, or with sparkling water - to see if it is like the other Addmore drink I sampled. Really impressed with this cordial, it is something different - which is right up my alley!

Upon opening my latest review parcel I could have mistakenly thought that I had received wine products in my parcel to review. Looking a little closer though I could see that they were some of the Addmore Elderflower products, including this Elderflower cordial. The label is very eye catching, but so simple, and does resemble a label that could be on any wine bottle in the supermarket. I like that their logo is very simple but effective and fits the product. I received this product plus two of the sparkling varieties and after trying both of those it was time to try this one. I had quite enjoyed the sparkling versions so was interested to see how I would find this as a non-sparkling drink.

Reading the label I found the directions. I shook the bottle well as per the instructions before finding a table spoon and measuring out one part cordial to ten parts of water. I chose to use tap water that had been chilled in the fridge. I do notice that the bottle says you can use hot, cold or soda water and that is is also excellent when used in cocktails, desserts, sorbet, ice cream and marinades). My first observation of this product is that it didn't have much of a smell to it. Open opening the two sparkling varieties I had you could smell the yummy sweet smell immediately, but even when trying to smell this product I couldn't smell anything.

As I took my first sip I was pleasantly surprised. With the lack of amazing smell I was a little worried I wouldn't like this drink. But I couldn't have been more wrong! The flavour was sweet and yummy, and I actually preferred it over the last two. To me, it was almost like having a sweet honey drink. There wasn't as much of a floral flavour to it, and had I been given all of the drinks together without a label I don't think I would have picked that this was Elderflower like the other two. Reading the label to find the ingredients I wasn't surprised that this drink was quite a bit sweeter and less Elderflower as sugar is the top ingredient, followed by water, then lemon juice and then the Elderflower extract.

This bottle seems expensive at $12 for the bottle, however mixing it as instructed you will get 4 litres of cordial out of it. At $3 per litre it certainly isn't as bad, and for a premium drink product I think is very reasonable.

I wasn't sure what to actually do with this cordial except the obvious "drink it" so I decided to look on the Addmore website for suggestions. Luckily they had a few recipes handy for some inspiration and I immediately looked at the Raspberry & Elderflower Tart Recipe and decided I would gather the ingredients and give it a go. Sadly raspberries aren't in season so I grabbed some strawberries and blueberries instead.

I created a custard mix using eggs, sugar, cornflower, flour, milk and Addmore Elderflower Cordial according to the instructions found on the Addmore website and then added the mix to some tart cases and topped with some fresh strawberries and blueberries which I'd cut up earlier and had left in the fridge with some icing sugar. The result was absolutely delicious and both my husband and my neighbours all devoured the small amount the recipe made, sadly I didn't have enough eggs to make a second batch but I will, without a doubt, be making these again next weekend!

While I was standing over the stove top waiting for my custard mix to thicken I decided to pour myself a glass of the cordial and mixed it with water, the first mix I did which was about 10% cordial, 90% water was quite sweet and I decided to add more water until it was around 3-5% cordial and the rest water, this I found was the perfect combination for me. I really like how it is a cordial and you can control how sweet you want it to be rather than it being a predefined sweetness.

Flavour wise I'm not entirely sure what I could taste, there was obviously something sweet in there and also something florally and little hint of lemon/lime but other than that I didn't taste much else. The flavours combined are quite different to anything else I have tried and I quite enoyed them.

The price of $12 a bottle is quite steep even for a cordial that can last quite a while but with the flavour being quite unique it's safe to say I would buy it again, even if just to make those tarts again! I would love to try the other flavours in the range to see how they differ from this one.

I can't say that I can remember ever trying elderflower before so it was with a mixture of apprehension and curiosity that I opened up this bottle of elderflower cordial. I wasn't too sure about the smell of it, coming to the conclusion that it just smelt sweet but that I couldn't define anything else within. The label gives a nice few suggestions for what to use this cordial for, which leaves this open to a lot of possibilities. I tasted some of the syrup straight from the bottle and still thought it was rather sweet with a hint of floral to it.

I made this first as a cold drink, I thought it was ok but it wouldn't be my first or second choice if I were thirsty. Mr nine finished his drink and said it tasted nice enough but that he wouldn't want to drink it again (basically how I feel about this stuff), whilst miss six drank hers but gave no sign of actually enjoying it, more just drinking it because she was thirsty. A late night home meant it was too late to get the fire going, so I decided to try this as a hot drink. The water got a little couldy and the floral aroma was much stronger. Tasting it, my mum and I agreed that it tasted very similar to a hot herbal tea (which is something I can never stand drinking as I find it to insipid) but I actually liked this, it had a full burst of flavour and hot, I could easily taste the lemon in it.

Watching tv I got a tad bored and reached for the marshmallows badly positioned next to me. I then had a what if... moment and decided to bite a small bit out of the marshmallow, creating a well, and then pour a tiny bit of syrup in the 'well' (and a very little bit is all that was needed) and then carefully took a bite of it. This was very reminiscent of the filled marshmallows that I was addicted a couple of years ago and so I may have had a few too many... As a cold drink, I can't be bothered, but as a nice hot drink this was delicious and after a fee marshmallows and eight drinks so far, I still have half a bottle.

Elderflowers! One of the best memories I have of the years we lived on the West Coast of Ireland, where the heady scent of the flowers was enough to make us intoxicated if we stood under the tree for too long. We had just one tree but it yielded copious amounts of flowers which were turned into cordials and wine, and later in the season we harvested a bumper crop of berries as well.

So, having made the cordial for many years myself, I could not wait to see if the commercial variety would live up to expectations. I admit I was sceptical; it is seldom that a bulk produced item, even from a small firm which follows traditional processes, lives up to the raw home-made variety. I did my sniff test before pouring my first glass and was not encouraged at first - there was little elderflower scent; rather, it was a plum-like smell reminiscent of lychee or greengage. Following the instructions, I poured 15 ml into a 150ml glass of water. A but weak for my liking so I added another 3 ml of syrup and stirred it in.

To say I was amazed would be an understatement. Once I had sorted the proportions to my own taste, I found I was enjoying a drink every bit as flavoursome and unique as those I remember from many years ago. There was that undertone of muscatel which always came through in the home-made variety, and also the citrus flavour which, according to the label, comes from lemon juice; in this combination, however, it tastes more like lime.

Once I had recorded my own impressions, I brought the rest of the bottle to dinner at a friend's house. I did not tell them what they were getting; just handed each of them a glass and asked for their feedback. All they knew was that it was a cordial.

I gave Mr 18 a glass mixed with water to the 1:10 proportions recommended on the bottle. His father had a splash in a small glass of vodka, and his mother (who has a sweet tooth) had a stronger mixture, again with water. All three of them liked it and wanted to know where they could buy it. Mr 18 thought it was perfect just as it was and said he would drink it on a hot day with ice cubes. His mother said she would like to try it as a hot drink. His father, however, said the flavour was wasted in the vodka as it was too delicate to taste. He added some more and tried again; this time he too gave it the thumbs up.

Next day I tried it with another friend; this time we poured it neat over vanilla ice-cream. Delicious, although it is rather expensive to use like that too often; the price tag would mean it is really a special occasion treat. She commented on the floral taste and said she could see it being a good summer thirst quencher with lots of ice and a slice of lime. She also said she would hide it at the back of the fridge or the kids might find it and drink it all! We tried it later the same day as a drink, served with a platter of light German and Dutch cheeses. I can vouch for the fact that it goes really well with Maasdam.

I have not tried it with any children yet - Mr 18 hardly qualifies! - so I look forward to trying it with the younger members of my own family. And now I want to try the other flavours in the range to see if they are as good.