elderflower champagne

Having a little more time on my hands than usual, I decided to make some elderflower champagne.

Outside the front of my house is lovely wooded area with lots of elder trees. Time to get creative and make some moonshine.

Below I have listed the ingredients and method.

INGREDIENTS

40 medium and large flower cluster heads

6 lemons

1 kg sugar

1 large tablespoon of honey (my honey was a lovely birthday gift from Fran. We LOVE Larkhill - click HERE for more info about amazing family glamping)

6 pints water boiled water

18 pints cold water

8 table spoons cider vinegar

PLEASE NOTE

Do NOT wash the flowers. They have naturally occurring yeast on. This is needed for the fermenting process.

METHOD

Gently shake an insects from flower heads and place in a large clean bucket

Dissolve the sugar and honey in 6 pints of boiled water

quarter the lemons

add all ingredients to the bucket and stir

Don't forget to add the additional water (cold) and cider vinegar

Now stir well and cover with a clean tea towel. Leave at room temperature for 48 hours. Stir occasionally occasionally.

After 48 hours it should look frothy on the top.

If it's still then you can add a little wine or yeast, stir and leave for another 48 hours.

Now it's time to bottle!!

You need to use a sieve the flowers and lemons out and pour into bottles.

Clean plastic pop bottles, glass or ceramic bottles with flip tops are perfect. I don't recommend corking, that could lead to a sticky disaster.

Once bottled leave at room temperature for a further week, burping occasionally (open the top to 'burp')

CHEERS!