Elderflower Champagne
16/June/2007 Filed in:
JottingsOur annual Garden party is little more than a month hence, but the hedgerows have been full of good things for some weeks past and we have a satisfying amount of Elderflower Champagne bubbling away in the monastery kitchen, ready to slake the thirst of our guests. The smallest quantity we would ever think of making is 5 gallons, so, if you would like a taste of monastic Olde England, here is our recipe (with apologies to those who can only work in metric measures):
- 50 heads of elderflowers
- 6lb sugar
- 11 tablespoons of white wine vinegar
- 11 large lemons
- 40 pints of cold water
Pick the elderflower when fully out and shake to remove any insects. Put into a large tub with all the other ingredients (we usually scrape the zest from the lemons into the water before slicing the fruit fairly thinly) and leave for 72 hours. Strain through muslin into a pressure barrel and leave for at least four weeks, occasionally releasing some of the pressure. At the end of that period you will have a delicious, not too alcoholic, fizzy drink. If you don't have a barrel, strong plastic lemonade bottles are just as good; but if you are forgetful, do store them somewhere where an explosion won't matter. My first attempt at brewing beer in the monastery was slightly veil-raising as I unintentionally doubled the amount of priming sugar and only discovered my mistake when the barrel started whistling at me. You have been warned!