Elderflower seems like a genteel, old-fashioned seasoning; it evokes images of little old ladies wearing hats and floral dresses while sitting in a garden sipping cordial. But chefs use it in recipes beyond those for drinks: in Paris a couple of years ago, I tasted elderflower crème brûlée and elderflower ice cream, and I enjoyed hints of the flavour in a poaching liquid used to make a delicious chilled fruit soup.

It's not easy in Hong Kong to make elderflower infusions because (as far as I know) the plant, which produces both the flowers and the berries (called, appropriately enough, elderberries, which are used to make another old-fashioned drink: elderberry wine), is not grown here.

If you do come across one of the several varieties of edible (elderberry) that grow in many other parts of the world, do not eat the berries without cooking them; they can be poisonous if consumed raw.

Elderflower essential oil and tisane (a tea made from the dried flowers) are said to calm the mind, reduce inflammations and soothe skin.