Cooking with edible flowers | delicious. Magazine food articles & advice

Cooking with edible flowers | delicious. Magazine food articles & advice.

And to continue with the flower theme….

Elderflower Champagne

We are lucky to have some fantastic elderberry bushes in our garden and this year the elderflowers have blossomed in ambundance, making up for the past couple of years where the wet summers ruined the flowers.
Elderflowers are only around for a few weeks in the Summer and I sadly admit I have often missed the opportunity to make the most of them. This year I was determined to put that right and so this weekend I have made my first batch of elderflower champagne, around 5 litres in total.

elderflowers in the garden

I picked 2 large, fully bloomed elderflower heads and placed them in a sterilised (using Milton sterilising tablets) 5 litre plastic container with the zest of an organic uwaxed lemon and its juice, 500g organic cane sugar, 2 tbsp Aspalls organic white wine vinegar and 5 litres of water. I gently stirred the mixture and covered for 24 hours – stirring every 6 hours or so.

Preparing elderflower champagne

The next day I prepared 6 wine bottles (with screw caps) by putting them through the hot cycle of the dishwasher. I lined a sieve with some muslin and placed the sieve over a 2 litre jug. I ladled the champagne mixture through the sieve and then when it was full, placed a funnel into the top of a wine bottle and poured the champagne from the jug. I continued with this process until all bottles were filled. I then firmly screwed on the bottle caps and placed the bottles in the garage (any cool, dark place is ideal).
The champagne should be ready to drink in a couple of weeks but like most homemade brews will improve with age.
I have been warned that like homemade ginger beer the bottles may have a tendency to explode so I’ll keep you informed!