I finally got around to straining the elderflower vinegar that I made last month. My funnel had gone walk about and so I had ample excuse to buy a very natty lime-green, rubber snail version that I’d spotted up the road. It’s fabulous because it folds flat like a concertina and so I can wedge it into my over-filled kitchen draw. It came from a great shop, Sense in Clifton, where there’s a very tempting selection of fun, culinary gadgets. In fact my vinegar ended up being quite an extravagant affair because once I’d found my snail I couldn’t resist one or two other luminous rubber must-haves for my kitchen, but more on those at a later date.

I’ve kept my elderflowers steeping in vinegar in the fridge for the last few weeks, I probably didn’t need to but it’s been so hot lately that I worried about the flowers going mouldy. Today I strained the vinegar through muslin and put it into some old bottles I had stowed away. It tastes wonderful; really floral.

I’m sure that I’ll come up with some more exciting moments to use my vinegar but today I dressed a simple green salad with Arbequina olive oil (that I simply adore), the vinegar and a bit of seasoning. We ate the aromatic salad with Cumberland sausages and new potatoes, hardly gourmet but very good all the same.
I’ll definitely be making larger quantities of the vinegar next year, and plan to begin collecting up any attractive bottles in the meantime.