Elderflower

kate83

I've seen quite a few recipes say to use washed out fizzy drinks bottles then
a) you can see if the start distorting and let a bit of gas out
b) if they do explode at least you've not got glass shooting out all over the place

not tried them myself but plan to this year, just noticed the first flowers coming out this week

soullessfire

Well since today was nice I went for a walk with my blue trug (looks a bit like an oversize handbag, so was getting looks) and I managed to hit the motherlode and get about 120 really nice sweet smelling flowerheads.

Spent the evening sorting everything out and I now have 3 lots of elderflower cordial beside me in a bucket and 25 litres worth of elderflower champagne in a fermentation barrel as well.

Fingers crossed it all works out. Smells lovely though

soullessfire

FOrgot to mention, as I cleared the heads out of the bucket to use them I noticed something dark on one of the flowerheads and when I checked, it was a bumble bee completely yellow from head to toe in elderflower pollen and fast asleep. I moved him in with my strawberries so he can get to work when he wakes up.

Chimera

I started Elderflower champagne off this year and I am excited to taste the results!!

soullessfire

Bottled my cordial today and it tastes wonderful. Surprised how nice it is to be honest lol

Strained off all the gunk out of the champagne and it's going "bloop" in the barrel beside me so I'm guessing it's fermenting away nicely. Can't wait to try it.

stumpycat

You can usually buy bags of citric acid in Asian supermarkets without any fuss. Chemists do sell it, but you may have to sign for it.

Grandmama

Please do watch out for the exploding bottles. When my children were little we made loads of elderflower champagne but we learnt to keep it in an outside shed in a cupboard as there were quite a few explosions.
Another yummy way of using elderflowers is to make fritters with them. Cut the whole flower head with an inch of two of the stalk. Better left unwashed (tastes better) but if fussy swish in some cold water. Make a batter (like a yorkshire pudd), have a little oil in a hot frying pan, hold the flower stalk, dip in the batter and put in pan. Quicly cut off the stalk. When downside is brown, flip over to do other side. Serve hot , dipped or dusted with caster sugar.

suisidevw

I'm making this as I post. Have noticed lots of tiny little black bugs in the water when i've gently rinsed the flower heards. Will it be OK if some end up in the pot?! Has anyone else noticed this? Thanks

soullessfire

Mine had those little black bugs but when I strained it after the 24 hours to remove the flowers, all the bugs were in the muslin and I was left with just the liquid. I think you need to strain it with something with a fine mesh rather than a household sieve to fully remove those.

lovelife_3

soullessfire wrote: »

Mine had those little black bugs but when I strained it after the 24 hours to remove the flowers, all the bugs were in the muslin and I was left with just the liquid. I think you need to strain it with something with a fine mesh rather than a household sieve to fully remove those.

Aw gosh i really fancied making this, but the black bug vision, has put me right off ew