One of the things that I look forward to every summer is going foraging for wild fruit and flowers; blackberries, wild raspberries – it’s food for free! Right now – mid-June – we’re coming to the end of the elderflower season. I’m making something that I’ve only made once before… elderflower champagne.
Because we’ve been living in rural Wales for less than a year, we’ve not yet got to know all the best local foraging spots. We set out on a walk last week to go in search of elder shrubs. It took us about half an hour to come across the first one… but where there’s one, there are always more! It’s always best to not completely strip a shrub of its flowers, take a few sprigs from a number of them – leave some behind for the insects and to allow the flowers to develop into elderberries for the birds… and to use in elderberry recipes!
Once you have your flowers, all you need is a few lemons, white sugar and yeast. Wine and champagne yeast as easy to get hold of online or at some hardware stores. Wine yeast differs from the type that you use to make bread in that it can withstand higher levels of alcohol.
Some other recipes I looked at recommend adding yeast nutrient which nourishes the yeast and aids in the fermentation process.
The recipe makes 8 litres of champagne, so you’ll need a large pan or bucket that can hold that amount of liquid – I used my jam-making pan (that was just about big enough) but a spotlessly clean plastic bucket would be a good option too. You’ll also need enough sterilised bottles to store it all.
Although the recipe I used recommends using 2-litre plastic bottles (for safety reasons), I used glass bottles with swing-top corks. There’s a danger of bottles exploding if excess carbon dioxide builds up, so I carefully released the gas every day during the fermentation process.
Serve it ice-cold – this also helps to avoid the contents frothing over on opening the bottle. A lovely, floral alternative to sparkling wine or spritzer.
Click here or on the image below to save this elderflower champagne recipe to Pinterest
Elderflower champagne
Ingredients
- 15 sprigs fresh elderflowers
- 2 litres boiling water
- 6 litres water
- 1 kg sugar
- 3 lemons peel sliced off in strips
- 5 g white wine or champagne yeast
Instructions
- Clean the elderflower heads, removing any dead flowers, cobwebs and insects
- Dissolve the sugar in 2 litres of boiling water, then cover and set aside until cool
- Once the sugar syrup has cooled to room temperature, pour it into a large, clean 10 litre container. Add the rest of the water, the lemon peel, the juice from 1 of the lemons, the elderflowers and the champagne yeast. Give the mixture a good stir, cover with a muslin cloth and leave to ferment at room temperature for 3-4 days. Give it a little stir every day – you'll notice it starting to fizz and bubble as the fermentation process begins
- For this next stage, you'll need 4 - 2-litre plastic screw top bottles and a funnel. It's recommended to use plastic bottles as the fermentation process produces carbon dioxide, which is what makes your 'champagne' sparkling but can also make bottles explode. The plastic bottles (as opposed to glass ones) have a little give so can expand a little, plus the screw-top lid isn't as airtight as a cork
- Pass the champagne through a muslin cloth, then decant into the bottles using a funnel. Tightly screw on the lids. The second stage of fermentation occurs in the sealed bottles and is what gives your champagne its fizz; carbon dioxide builds up and has nowhere to go, so it lies in wait for when the bottle is opened, causing that rush of bubbles. As mentioned, this can cause bottles to explode, so even though using plastic bottles minimises the risk, it's still safe to store them in a cool dry place like an outdoor shed or garage. Placing something over the bottles such as a cardboard box is a good idea to reduce the sticky mess if one does burst
- Leave the bottles for another few days, checking each day and carefully opening each lid to let some of the gas escape if needed. After a couple of days, the second fermentation should have finished, but storing them in a cold room or the fridge will stop the fermentation completely
