Allerton Park & Retreat Center

Experience Level: Beginner 

Create tasty cordials to add to your favorite beverage at Black Walnut & Elderflower Cordials on Thursday, July 30 from 5:30 to 8 p.m. in Evergreen Lodge. 

Heidi Leuszler, the owner and head chef of Berries and Flour in Champaign, will introduce students to two plants — Elder (Sambucus Canadensis) and Black Walnut (Juglas Nigra). The class will discuss the natural, cultural, and culinary histories of the species, and then learn to prepare the ingredients into cordials to take home and mix with their preferred beverage to make a tasty, unique refreshment! 

$115/person. Register here. Registration will close July 23 or when capacity is reached. All sales are final.  

Learn more about the space where your course will take place here. If you will need disability-related accommodations to participate, please email owarren@illinois.edu. 

By attending, you consent to your image being used in Allerton marketing, social media and publications. Please alert the photographer or videographer if you do not want your image taken. 

About the instructor 

Heidi Leuszler grew up harvesting and foraging wherever she lived: mangos in Florida, morels and mustang grapes from the back acre in Missouri, wild strawberries and holly grapes in the Colorado mountains and chokecherries in North Dakota. Those passions remained as she added culinary skills in addition to becoming a professor of environmental science, ecology and botany at Parkland College. 

She started Berries and Flour in Champaign as the synergy of several passions: culinary, ecology, growing of plants, foraging and teaching people about the plentiful Midwest land. Berries and Flour teaches how to harvest, process and consume regional foods, collaborates with others to promote food accessibility and justice, and produces value-added products from its commercial kitchen.