Friday, June 25, 2010

Elderflower time!

This weekend is probably our last chance to get out and make use of the elderflowers, so here are a couple of easy recipes to whet your appetite. First off, it’s my personal favourite – elderflower champagne. This drink is one of the joys of summer, and it’s a doddle to make with no special equipment at all. Simply take…

…well, one elderflower tree really. That’s a picture of one, you can’t miss it. In fact, if you have a sense of smell you can’t miss the blossoms either because they have a strong floral scent – I’m tempted to say they smell “green” but shall refrain. Synesthesia is such a personal thing. Anyhoo, you only need 5 or 6 “heads” of flowers to make a gallon of champagne, so what are you waiting for?

Pick nice young flower heads, where the flowers have not yet started to drop petals or turn brown. Don’t leave them sitting around for hours, or the smell will change and your poor cat will be thrown out into the garden, accused of incontinence*. You’ll get pollen on you, but don’t worry. It doesn’t stain. Boil a gallon (4.5 litres) of water in a large pan and leave it to cool, then throw in the elderflower heads (having shaken any bugs off them first) and a couple of sliced lemons. Put the lid on, and leave it for a 24 to 36 hours before straining it through a clean cloth or a sieve (if you don’t mind a few petals and the occasional thunderbug). Add one and a half pounds (750g) of sugar and two tablespoons of cider vinegar, and stir until all the sugar has dissolved. Pour into bottles that will stand pressure – champagne bottles if you’re posh, but to be honest I prefer lemonade bottles.

You’re finished with the messy stuff now. Put the tops on to keep fruit flies out, but don’t screw them on tight yet because the wild yeasts on the flowers go to work on the sugar – just stand the bottles in a corner and keep an eye on them until they don’t seem to be fizzing any more – 7 to 14 days of fermentation depending on the weather. Then screw the lids down, and put them somewhere without expensive carpet (in case they, you know. Explode). Give them another week or two to generate enough gas to carbonate themselves, and you’re set – just refrigerate the bottle before you need it, and serve over ice with lemon. The drink is light and green floral, sort of like lemonade but with a beautiful flowery kick to it. Oh, and just a bit alcoholic. Try it once, and I defy you not to make it every year.

I much prefer fizzy drinks bottles for elderflower champagne, because knowing when to screw the top on tightly is a black art. If you get it wrong with a glass bottle with a cork in it, you’ve got a sticky mess to clean up, possibly with broken glass in it. If you get it wrong with a plastic fizzy bottle, the “crimp” at the bottom pops out and the bottle may fall over. If this happens within the first day or so, you’ve jumped the gun so you need to let some of the pressure off daily until things slow down a bit. Most forgiving.

The second recipe is Cheryl’s – elderflower cordial. A single quantity makes about three litres, enough for four standard (75cl) wine bottles. Screw tops are best. The cordial keeps for four to six weeks in the fridge, but if you freeze it (leave the tops loose and don’t fill the bottles right up!) it keeps for a whole year.

Put 30 elderflower heads into a large plastic bowl or bucket, along with 2kg of sugar and 50g citric acid (you can get this from any chemist, or from Face Value in South Street). Cut two lemons in half, juice them, and then throw both the juice and the skins into the bucket with everything else. Pour over two litres of boiling water, stir until all the sugar has dissolved, and then cover lightly with a lid or a clean tea towel.

Leave for three days to infuse, stirring well once a day, and then fish out the fruit and flowers. Pour through a seive (or if you want to be really posh, a straining bag to remove all the odds and sods), and then pour into wine bottles that have been heated up in the oven and then left to cool to sterilize them. And that’s it – what, twenty minutes work? And the kitchen smells wonderful afterwards!

If you’ve got any favourite elderflower recipes, post them – enquiring minds want to know!

*Sorry, Treefrog. I haven’t forgotten.

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