Tonight is England’s first appearance at this world cup, and like always it is accompanied here in England with a mix of defiant optimism and hysteria. We could do it, is the message, as long as we don’t get to a penalty shoot out or have to play Germany.

In their defence they can leave quite and impact. Only that it is usually more off the pitch than on it. They won the World Cup once, in 1966, but a much bigger impact had their appearance at the 2006 World Cup in Germany, at least linguistically: the players’ wives and girlfriends, short ‘WAGs’, descended on the sleepy town of Baden-Baden and spent a whopping £60,000 in one glorious shopping spree and in turn got the acronym ‘WAG’ into the Oxford English Dictionary. Anything to get away from the dismal performance of their other halves, I suppose.

To see England play is often a sobering experience, so the following recipe for an elderflower cordial seems an apt choice. It’s particularly refreshing in the summer, sitting in the garden and enjoying the rare sunshine. You can also use it for delicious ice creams or desserts.

Getting the elderflower heads just in time can be tricky

Elderflower Cordial (makes ca. 2.3 litres)

Boiling the sugar

This elderflower cordial is probably slightly darker than you might expect it as I used golden caster sugar