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Home-made Elderflower champagne

June is the time to make your own Elderflower “champagne” (a lightly sparkling, mildly alcoholic drink). Here’s my recipe for this totally natural and easy-to-make drink which is great served very cold on a hot day in August.

Pick your elderflowers when they are in full bloom on a hot sunny day for best results.

You will need one large container with a lid… 

Ingredients:

• 10 large elderflower heads

• 1 kilo of sugar

• 10 litres water

• 2 lemons

• splash of cider vinegar

Peel the lemons and place the peel in the container with the juice of the lemons, the sugar, the water and the vinegar. Stir. Put in the flower heads and stir gently. Cover and leave to stand for 48 hours.

Strain the liquid through a fine sieve or cloth and pour into bottles (a funnel helps at this point). The best bottles are empty fizzy water bottles (or Coke-type bottles if you drink that kind of stuff) – don’t use normal plastic bottles as they could explode! If you live in cider-country you can use old glass cider bottles as long as the seals are still good on the stoppers.

Leave your champagne in a cool place for at least 4 weeks before you drink it. It can last for up to two years, but I don’t think you’ll be able to resist it for that long!

I have added a bunch of fresh herbs (mint and lemon-thyme) to some batches, which is very nice but obviously not the pure Elderflower experience. Next year I shall be making some batches with added ginger....

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