Citric acid for elderflower cordial

[PassTheTwiglets]

Could I just use lemon juice instead, does anyone know?

I'm not sure, but you can buy the citric acid from your chemist.

The citric acid is a preservative so you can keep it for longer. I'm not sure lemon juice would be as effective if you wanted to store it long term. Sorry not much help.

Pesto, I haven't tried to buy it yet but a quick Google said that chemists usually have to order it in and it can be hard to buy as drug users buy it!

Oh, my neighbours make elderflower cordial every year and don't seem to have a problem getting hold of it from the chemists.

Maybe you could phone your local one and ask, save yourself a trip. They might then order it if need be, for you.

Will do, thanks for the tip! We have tons of elderflowers at the back of the garden and every year I say I'm going to make cordial but every year the flowers have gone by the time I get round to it!

Asian store sell it in larger bags. Chemists don't do such large bags as it is used to cut drugs by junkies. (I got the enth degree when buying it to descale the steriliser).

You can buy citric acid in loads of places... anywhere that does brewery supplies (Wilkinson's, Boots etc.), many Asian stores, and lots of supermarkets - my local Tesco has it.

Got some from a chemist today, after I had to promise him that I wasn't using it to cut heroin! Boots denied all knowledge of it and said that none of their branches sell it...!

I've bought it from Boots before! But last year I got a big jar online which worked out much cheaper and left me with enough for a big batch this year.

Amazon do it.

I bought a smallish bag from eBay Got elderflower cordial made, and champagne and wine on the go. Lucky you having a tree - we've been hunting everywhere away from roads

Citric acid not essential if you use a portion of the cordial within a week or two and freeze the remainder in smallish quantities. I use 1 pint plastic milk bottles which stack well in my freezer. We make about 12pints every elderflower season which keeps us in squash for the rest of the year.

I think it's best with fizzy water.

I've made my usual load but just before the end of the season I've been wondering about making some with stevia. Just wondered if anyone else has tried this. Have googled but not found much of any use to help me with quantities or anything.

I once had a chemist ( he happened to be an Orthodox Jew) turn his back on me when I asked for citric acid. Couldn't t understand why he was being rude. Later read heroin users use it to dissolve blocks of heroin prior to injecting. And that his shop had been raided by junkies several times. I was mortified! Anyway, I managed to get hold of a few little packets at my local Indian superstore. It acts as a preservative and I don t think lemon juice would do as well, or give the required clean sharpness you need somewhere in there.