This is the easiest 'fizz' Ive ever made. Its the fizz that Hugh serves up a River Cottage HQ. Watching his wine making efforts we have often shouted at the screen..'that's not wine' that's beer' but its so much less time consuming than a complex wine, so Im giving it a shot. A solo Gnome dropped some fragrant, voluptuous elderflowers at our house this week, intended initially for elderflower fritters, but the weather..ohhh the weather! a record heat wave in spring is not conducive to fritters, so by Friday the flowers were really stressing me out; brought all this way and still sitting in the fridge, wilting a little, looking a tad less glorious and no end to the heat in sight. Whadddaya do?...make wine.
4 litres of hot water and 700g of dissolved sugar later, the elderflowers (about 13 heads) were bathing in a demi-john (a clean bucket will do) alongside the rind and juice of four lemons and 2 tablespoons of rice wine vinegar (the recipe called for white wine vinegar but we had none) and a 2 litre top-up of cold water. Too easy. This will sit for a few days, covered with muslin, then the yeast checked, (if not fermenting by then, a tablespoon of regular bakers yeast will be added) and eitherway, left to sit again for a few more before being strained and bottled up in swing top bottles. Easy huh? If you've got some elderflowers to hand give it a try, just be prepared for the potential explosions! Ive read that storing the fizz under a heavy cloth works a treat.
8 comments:
Kelly - how are you coping with 'the heat' down there? We all know that Adelaide can be a hot place but usually you don't cop it this early.
James- yeah, temps of 39-40 for a week and a half is crazy hot for this time of year. we're doing fine. the bottom floor of our house is half built into rock so we get the benefits of 'coolth' and the night time temps in our valley with running creek have been great so sleeping with covers here. Most others are air con throughout the nights. Its crazy and doesnt bode well for summer.
I used to make ginger beer once upon a time. You certainly need a spare room to store it, and explosions make a mess! But the end product was so worth it. I hope your elderberry wine is as good as it sounds!
The tree is still loaded with fantastic flowers! Would you like some more? Just come and get them. As many as you like.
I have the same brew sitting in a bucket. Smells lovely. Might make another batch. :)
vegeyum-me too..not looking promising at this stage, yeats not active..added some today.
veggiegnone- two vege/veggies! no natural fermentation in sight after 4 days..this happen to you also some mould growth..ewww!
Just checked our brew and it's bubbling away nicely! Natural fermentation - no yeast added.
I suspect the flowers had been in the fridge a bit long and lost the naturally occuring wild yeasts. But that's my guess.
We'll make another batch today. :)
if it's fizz you want then try kombucha. let the 'mother' do all the work. i make mine with black or rooibos tea and fresh ginger. it is yummy and even the children have been able to get over their horror at the weird living things fermenting away in big glass jars that brew the kombucha...
hehe- i spent my early twenties brewing kombucha, 'my mother' was thicker than my arm when I'd finished! lovely refreshing stuff but Im after some fizz and ALCOHOL! even a mere 4 % will be fine! lol
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