The fine summer we have had this year means the Elderflowers (Sambucus nigra) are heavy with pollen making them ideal to make Elderflower Champagne.
This recipe is very easy to make, so get cracking as the window of opportunity is closing fast and the Elderflowers my way are turning already.
This is a work in progress! I will report back whether it works or not. It’s an unusual elderflower champagne recipe and folk have privately commented that they don’t think it will work… As I like to say “Time Will Tell”. Boo to the nay-sayers.
Ingredients
- 2 litres of Elderflowers
- 3 lemons (juiced)
- 500g of granulated sugar
- 5 litres of cold water
Suggested Instructions
- Snip the flowers away from the main stalk and put in a plastic bucket or large bowl.
- Slice the lemons and put in the bowl along with the sugar.
- Next add the cold water and stir to dissolve the sugar. Cover with a weighted plate to exclude the air, so make sure that the Elderflowers etc. are all submerged. Leave for 24-36 hours.
- Strain the mixture through muslin or a fine sieve, and pour into 1 litre screw top plastic bottles that have been thoroughly cleaned and dried. Make sure you leave a 5cm gap at the top.
- Leave for a week four weeks and then drink.
Makes: 5 litres
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{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
I have faith in you Robin! But will you still get the fizz in plastic bottles?
Ah, wish I’d come across this a few days ago, our elders are just done their flowering. It sounds like it will have a delightful flavour. Will it fizz with no yeast? When I made nettle beer I had to add yeast to get the carbonation.
The fizz develops from the natural yeasts already on the elderflowers, which is why it is best to harvest your flowers in sunlight and before mid-day to capture the maximum amount of natural yeasts. So its pretty dependent on how much yeast is already on the flowers. Either it works or it doesn’t.
Well, finished….but the consistancy is a bit like sirup.
I am retired now, but our daughter, who lives on a country estate in North Wales in the UK made me several glass bottles of a similar recipe for an elderflower cordial which is thick and syrupy and has to be diluted with water. It tastes so refreshing as a cold drink and in glass bottles in the fridge has kept perfectly well for nearly 12 months!! I am still using it and it still tastes as good as when first made. I suppose the high sugar content, and being stored in stoppered glass bottles in the fridge preserves it so well.
i am not so good on my legs as i used to be due to both knees being knackered but as this is a hedge row recipe i might be able to forage by getting close in the car and not walking far, will do thank you for thinking of me
I tried this recipe – but doubled the quantities. What is surprising about this one, is it uses so many elderflowers? Others seem to use just a few heads? Anyhoo, tried the first bottle over the weekend. Needed straining to drink, and was still fermenting. resulting in a very lemony/sligtly elderflowery (powerful) fart water! I’m going to leave the other 8 ltires for a few more weeks. Went well with vodka tho’, and would make very nice ice cubes! But not sure really. I’ll let you know in a few weeks. The upside is that the elderberries look like a monster crop this tear.
Hi there, when you say 2 litres of elderflowers, what excactly do you mean? You can’t measure them in litres as they are not a liquid, so is it a certain amount of flowers? Or is it measured in grams?
Cheers
Lya
Lya: I use my old brewing container that is marked off in gallons and litres. You just pick enough elderflowers until you reach the two litre level.
Last year i used this recipe with lots of heads of elderflowers and I hardly got any fizz…someone then told me I had used too many and had over yeasted my mix by putting so many flower heads in – I saved the day by adding Prosecco or rather adding the elderflower semibubbly liquid to glasses of prosecco, and pretending to myself that I got it all right!! – this year, I will try with just a few heads.. if i get to the flowers in time – everything is so early this year!
Goodluck though! let us know if it works!
Cx
Hi,
I am glad Lya asked the question about 2 litres of elder flowers – but do you get this by cutting virtually all the stalks off and leaving almost just the flowers. I have seen a recipe which did say pick the flowers off and discard all stalks. I made cordial a few weeks ago which is delicious, so I thought I would try the champagne, but am trying to sus out the best tips available.
Hi Shirley, got that cordial recipe?
M
Hi, I have a lovely black elder with pink flowers,in my garden. Does anyone know for SURE whether they can be used for elderflower champagne? Ive asked various knowledgeable folk, but have been given totally opposite answers….one that it’s poisonous, one that it would be ok! Help!!
Lesley – I am going to need the correct Latin/Botanical name of the species you have in your garden… do you know it?
Personally, I wouldn’t bother with this recipe, make the stuff properly. There is no way you will get much alcohol in a bottle when leaving it for just a week. It’ll be a syrupy mess, though you may be lucky to have a few bubbles in it. Most wines take between 2 and 3 months to ferment, and that’s using a proper yeast culture (not relying on wild yeast), and adding nutrient to the yeast to help it along the way. Good luck!
Mark: The whole point of the recipe is to use “wild yeasts” and not industrail culture’s “man-processed” yeasts. I left it for four weeks and it turned out fine. Pretty fizzy without becoming explosive.
Mark, you should really give this a try before being so cynical. Honestly, you don’t know what you are missing. Yes you could ferment the wine right out if you want to – there is nothing to stop you doing that if you want – which is an added advantage of this recipe. OK, your not going to get Moet et Chandon exactly but that’s the point. It’s supposed to be drunk early – why wait three months when you can get something pretty decent in just 2 weeks.
You can boost fermentation with some rice seeds /2-3 for a bottle/. But check regularly and don’t tightens the caps. I’ve seen exploded 2l. plastic bottle /it’s really hard to blow up this thing/, and the mess is…