Why are my fritters not crispy?

The most common causes for soggy fritters are too much batter (basic flour and egg batter like used in pancakes will never cook up crispy), and whatever you're frittering leeches too much water when cooking.

How to fix soggy fritters?

Batter consistency is key to good fritters. If too runny, add a touch of extra flour (otherwise fritters soggy inside).

What makes batter more crispy?

Rice flour and cornstarch work particularly well because they fry up crispier than wheat flour. They also absorb less moisture and fat during the frying process, making the products less greasy. This is why rice flour is often used when making tempura because it produces a very thin and crispy, dry crust.

Does baking soda make fritters crispy?

Is baking soda or powder best for frying? A pinch of baking soda can help produce crispy fried foods . It reacts with the acid in the batter to create carbon dioxide bubbles. These lead to an airy batter and a crisper, fluffier result.

Why do you put baking powder in fritters?

They just need a simple, light batter of flour, cornstarch, and baking powder mixed with seltzer to tie them together. The seltzer and baking powder ensure that the fritters are shatteringly crisp –even slightly tired vegetables emerge from the oil crunchy, fresh, and sweet.

Why are my fritters doughy?

If the fritters feel raw and doughy on the inside there could be two possible reasons. One is that the oil is just too hot , causing the outside to brown too quickly. You may find that you need to reduce the heat under the pan during cooking.

How to tell if fritter is cooked?

If the fritter doesn't sizzle when it hits the pan , you know it's not ready! Don't overcrowd the pan, as this causes the temperature of the pan to drop, resulting in limp, under-cooked fritters.

Why are my potato fritters soggy?

If your potato fritters are soggy, it's likely because too much liquid remained in your vegetables or the oil and skillet weren't hot enough . A hot skillet with hot oil is how you keep potato pancakes crispy.

Why did my apple fritters get soggy?

If the oil gets too hot, the fritters burn before they cook on the inside. If the oil is too cool, the fritters absorb all the oil and end up soggy . Use a probe thermometer to monitor the temperature while cooking and let the oil heat back up between frying batches of fritters.

What consistency should fritter batter be?

Instead of running from the spoon in a broad shining band, a consistency that the French call au ruban , the batter should start to run for about 1 1/2-inch length, then drop in successive long triangular “splats.” When the batter is this consistency, beat it until very smooth.

My Recipe For Old-Fashioned Delicacy Elderflower Fritters (2024)

Fritters are much like a pancake, usually with a primary ingredient like apples (apple fritters), potato or zucchini (both regional favorites).

In Italy (especially inPiedmont), Germany and Austria, theumbels(flowers resembling umbrellas) of the elderberry are batter coated, fried and then served as a dessert fritter with a sugar and cinnamon topping, known as “Hollerküchel”.

Our sweet, funny longtime friend Mary Guffey lived robustly, both mentally and physically, to her 94th birthday. She taught me about elderberry flowers (above) for summer fritters and stories of how she learned from her mother to make them as a girl.

That, and using the super health-giving elderberry to make jam, wine, and elderberrytincture was a common practice that old-timers felt gave ‘vitality and vigor’ to life.

And I believe it! Mary was sharp as a tack well into her mid-90s!

Elderberries (Sambucus) have been a powerful folk remedy for centuries in North America, Europe, Western Asia, and North Africa, so the medicinal benefits of elderberries are being investigated and rediscovered. Elderberry is used for its antioxidant activity, to lower cholesterol, to improve vision, to boost the immune system, to improve heart health and for coughs, colds, flu, bacterial and viral infections and tonsillitis.

Elderflower fritters are a delicacy you will not want to miss as are the fritters we make out of dandelions as a spring tonic or reboot:)

Elderberry Flower Fritters:

You will need afrying pan, cast iron skillet or griddle and coconut (what we use because it is healthy and can take the higher heat) or your preferred oil to fry in.

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour (or flour of your choice) GF flour works!
2-3 eggs
1/2 cup milk (or coconut milk)
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon, optional
12-16 Elderberry blossoms with stems, washed and patted dry (you can 2 cups substitute thinly sliced apple wedges or diced apple )
oil for frying – I use virgin coconut oil in a high-sided sauce pan
confectioner’s sugar for dusting, optional

Super Simple Directions:

With a whisk, just mix the flour, eggs, cinnamon, salt, and milk into a thin pancake batter
Heat 1/5-1/4 inch of coconut oil in your frying pan, cast iron skillet or griddle to a medium-high heat.
I turn on my exhaust fan

This recipe is pretty amusing. Your hot oil is waiting on the stove. You’ve whipped up a thin batter and your elderflower heads are at the ready to be dipped. You dunk the first head into the batter, and it clumps together into a wet-mop sort of a thing.

Oh, no, you fret!Is this really going to work?

You gently shake off the excess batter and lower the head into the hot oil.

Then comes the show: dip it straight down, sizzle for a bit until golden brown and this beautiful lacy fried-thing appears.

If you have enough oil (1/4″?), the flower head that had clumped together in the batter will spread back to life in the hot oil.

Whoa! So cool!

Growing Elderberries

Elderberry bushes are stunning when in bloom and bearing fruit. The berries you don’t pick attract mockingbirds, gray catbirds, bluebirds, cedar waxwing, and northern orioles all fall and winter.

Berries ripen in late August and early September. If you want to plant your own, pick a place they can have room to spread out, because they can get quite large (plant 6-8′ apart).

If you are wanting to grow these important berries at your own place, plan on getting one each of two varieties (Nova and York) since they don’t self-pollinate. You can get them from Gurney Nursery hereand fromEdible Landscape(under Shrubs)here.

Making Elderberry Tincture

You may also want to try your hand at making elderberry tincture or syrup. If you do, you can forget the flu (our experience if taken at first symptoms)!

Reasonably priced dried elderberries, available organically, can be found here.

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, and do not share this as medical advice; it is something that has been practiced for hundreds of years and that our family does. Both Pliny the Elder and Hippocrates mentioned and recommended elderberry as a medicinal herb in their writings.

Elderflower fritters are a fun and delicious way to eat wild right from your yard! Read a bit on foraging elder flowers and berries here. For other edible, wild, free food, check out The Joys Of Foraging!

“All that man needs for health and healing has been provided by God in nature, the challenge of science is to find it.”~Paracelsus (1493-1541)