We're getting festive with some flower fermentation. The photo above depicts the first step of the making of elderflower champagne for the market crew end of year Christmas party. And here's a simple recipe should you wish to make your own...
Elderflower Champagne
Find an elderberry tree and harvest some of the nice young flower heads. Fill a large saucepan or pot of some kind with 4.5 litres of water. Add about six elderflower heads along with two sliced lemons. Put the lid on and leave it for 24 to 36 hours. Strain the liquid through a clean cloth (cheesecloth is ideal but any cloth will do). Add 750 grams of sugar and two tablespoons of cider vinegar and stir well until all of the sugar has completely dissolved. Pour into bottles and put the lids on but don’t screw them on tight yet. Keep an eye on them and after a few days you’ll see tiny bubbles forming as the yeasts and the sugar start working together. After a couple of weeks when the bubbles have looked like they’ve stopped, screw the lids on tightly and place the bottles in a spot somewhere fairly cool. Then allow them another few days to generate enough gas to carbonate themselves and you’re done. Pop them in the fridge before serving over ice with lemon and enjoy!
Note: There’s no need to add yeast as the natural wild yeast on the blooms will do the fermentation. We’ve used our own organically grown elderflowers and lemons. Also the sugar and cider vinegar we’ve used are organic products (both available from the market by the way!). Obviously you don’t need to use organic ingredients but we choose to because that’s just how we roll. And being an organic champagne gives it that healthier edge which completely justifies consuming larger quantities!
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