AFTER the long wet winter, it's clear that summer is on the way when the creamy lace clumps of flowers appear on the Elder.

Dressed for an elegant woodland party, this tree beckons us to wander the hedges and gather some fragrant flower heads to make a heady concoction.

Elderflower Champagne

You'll need:

  • 6 large elderflower heads
  • 500g granulated sugar
  • 2 lemons
  • A table spoon of white wine vinegar
  • 5 litre bucket (plastic or steel)
  • 3 empty and clean 2 litre plastic pop bottles.
  • Sterilising powder from a brewing supplier
  • Lemon squeezer
  • Long handled wooden spoon

Once you've sterilised all your equipment, fill your bucket with 5 litres of tepid water. Stir in the sugar until dissolved. Pare off and add the lemon peel and squeeze in the juice.

Add the vinegar. Now add the flowers from your flower heads. Be gentle! You don't want to lose the pollen or the wild yeasts. Swirl the whole concoction about then cover with a tea towel.

After a few hours your bucket of blooms will fill your kitchen with an aroma like no other. Stir every few days.

Wait for the flowers to sink to the bottom of the bucket then, over a day or so, watch them rise to the surface again.

This is the yeasts from the flowers doing their wild botanicals thing, turning your mixture into elderflower champagne.

The liquid will fizz a bit. Some mould may grow on the surface- it does no harm.

It's time to bottle your champagne.

Sterilise a large jug, a funnel and a sieve lined with cheese cloth. Before starting to strain the liquid, use a cooking spoon to scrape off the flowers and mould from the top.

Now sieve the liquid into your jug. Use the funnel to decant from the jug to the bottles, leaving a 5cm space for fizzing at the top.

As the bottles are plastic, you can press a dent into each. This will pop back into shape as part of fermentation.

When this happens you'll know it's time to store the bottles upright in the dark for a couple of weeks before drinking.

Note: the bottles will need to be burped daily from this point to avoid too much pressure building up.

Now all you need is some barbeque weather.

I'm Helen Shalders. If you'd like to learn more about foraging or bushcraft or to join in with activities and courses I run, take a look at Wayfarers Outdoors on Facebook and Instagram.

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