Elderflower Champagne recipe [3107]
£1.00
Ingredients
This makes about 5 litres of elderflower champagne:
3 large heads of elder flowers - make sure that they are fully open, preferably facing the Sun
500g of sugar
2 lemons
55g of Tartaric Acid
5 litres of cold water
Time-scale
Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Standing Time: 24 hours
Maturing Time: two weeks plus
Method
Wash the lemons and slice thinly. Remove any insects, leaves or other unwanted objects from the elder flowers. (I always end up with a few insects but the way I see it they have been sterilised by the alcohol!)
Put the lemons into the 5 litre vessel along with the flowers.
Add the sugar and the tartaric acid. Be careful not to crush the flower heads too much with the sugar.
Pour on the cold water and add the yeast once cool. Put a lid or cover over the top of the vessel and leave to stand for 24 hours. Stir gently every six hours.
Sterilise the bottles either using 6 campden tablets per pint or boiling water. Take the lid off the vessel and remove any large flower heads or lemon slices by using the straining bag in a seperate bucket.
Fill the bottles using the syphon tube. Once all the bottles are full, close and place somewhere not too warm or too cold. A garage shelf is ideal.
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