Elderflower 'Champagne'

12 freshly picked heads of elderflower, remove the flowers with a fork
3 unwaxed organic lemons, zest and juice
550g golden granulated sugar dissolved in 1 litre of hot water, leave to cool.
2 litres of cold water
Container I used a bowl scalded first with boiling water. It came from an old Kenwood chef

Combine everything in the bowl and stir. Cover with a plate and leave for 2 days
If there are no bubbles forming after this time this may mean that the natural yeasts on the elderflowers are not cooperating in which case add 1/2 tsp dried bakers yeast. leave for another few days then strain and bottle put the tops on to keep fruit flies out.


TIP To wake up the dried yeast add it to a glass of hand warm water in which you have dissolved a teaspoon of  sugar. When it foams up it is ready to add to the brew.

I use Grolsch bottles as they are strong. Ordinary glass bottles are reputed to explode!!
 I have used plastic fruit juice bottles. You can tell when the pressure is building as the bottom of the plastic bottle domes out. The pressure can be released a bit by unscrewing the lid. I prefer not to use plastic in case the bottles were meant for single use and start leaching chemicals.

It should be ready to drink after about 3 weeks. You can leave it for longer but it will get drier. After that put it somewhere cool. It keeps for months.

Serve over ice with a slice of lemon ro use it in a cocktail. Cheers!