Elderflower creams with poached nectarines — a Honey & Co recipe

Google maps calls our part of south London Little Portugal for a reason. There’s a thriving community here. We always find ourselves surprised by unfamiliar crisp flavours and vegetables in the corner shop, or the discovery of a back street café tiled completely in magnificent azulejos — the blue and white tiles typical of that part of the world.

We are also always surprised by the seemingly endless foraging opportunities that the Portuguese find in this part of town. In autumn the row of crab apple trees by the local estate agent is harvested for jelly, in the summer they go for the big fig tree outside our house even though the fruit doesn’t ripen. When we asked the pickers what they do with it they told us it makes the best preserve, a jar of which was left by our front door for us to try.

But somehow, they ignore the elderflowers, and we take full advantage of that omission. With our little step ladder and secateurs, we maraud all the white frothy trees between South Lambeth Road and Clapham Road to make cordial for our restaurants. Our perennial ambition is to make enough to last us until September, but we rarely make it to August. On one of our foraging missions a group of our neighbours stopped by to ask what we were doing. They will get a bottle of cordial when it is done, even if it does mean competing over the blooms next year.

Milky white and gentle, these barely set creams are a perfect foil for this delicate flavour. If you are a gelatin novice, fear not! It is a really well-behaved ingredient. We use a standard supermarket brand and just follow the instructions.

If you can’t find fresh elderflower to make the cordial base, you could substitute 200ml shop-bought elderflower cordial.

Elderflower creams with poached nectarines

To serve 6-8 as dessert

For the home-made cordial base

1. Prepare the cordial. In a small saucepan, heat the sugar, water, honey and lemon zest and juice until they just start to boil. Add the elderflower blossoms and simmer for one minute (or simply boil the shop-bought cordial).

2. Add the nectarine wedges to the boiling liquid and poach for 30 seconds if soft, or one minute if firm. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside for 15-20 minutes.

3. Remove the nectarine wedges, put them in a bowl along with three tablespoons of the cooking liquid. Return the rest of the liquid to a low heat, add the cream and mix to combine.

4. Soak the gelatin in ice-cold water for five to ten minutes. As soon as the cream and syrup mix starts to boil, take the pan off the heat. Remove the gelatin from the cold water, wring it out and then add to the cream.

5. Mix to dissolve, strain through a fine sieve into a large serving bowl (or eight individual glasses) and set in the fridge for at least three to four hours.

6. Top with the nectarines and the remaining cooking liquid and serve.

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