Elderflower with Lime Sparkling Drink

Recipe for a Summer Hedgerow Homebrew with Twenty Elderflower Heads

Aug 5, 2008 Susan Morris

With six to eight weeks of flowering elders in summertime, this recipe can transform twenty large elderflower heads into a fruity fizzy drink to enjoy into the summer.

In the wild, elder trees are exciting finds for homebrew enthusiasts interested in making an elderflower alcoholic fizzy drink. Elder trees can grow and blossom in gardens in urban and semi-rural areas with a favorable climate.

Gardeners with several large elder trees will smell the characteristic scent of the elderflower heads as they start to blossom in late springtime (shown in the first photograph below). Elderflower fragrance is an early smell of summer coming.

The Elderflower with Lime Sparkling Drink recipe is perfect to make when elderflower heads can be harvested in late spring. The Elderflower with Lime Sparkling Drink keeps well when brewed and will be ready for drinking outside when the summer sun comes.

Harvesting Elderflower Heads

When an elder tree is in blossom, with at least 20 elderflower heads in accessible reach, harvest the heads for making the Elderflower with Lime Sparkling Drink. Experienced hedgerow brewers suggest that picking the elderflower heads at a time when at least one hour’s sun has touched the blossom.

Once the Elderflower heads have been cut from the tree, shake off insects and place in a carrying bucket as shown in the second photograph below. The elderflower head scent will take on a less fragrant nose after 1- 1 ½ hours post harvest. Do not wash the elderflower heads before adding to the Elderflower with Lime Sparkling Drink recipe.

Elderflower with Lime Sparkling Drink

Ingredients:

20 medium or large elderflower heads, in full blossom
4 limes
2 tablespoons of white wine vinegar
2kg white granulated sugar
6 litres boiled drinking water

Directions:

Add four litres of freshly boiled drinking water to a clean household bucket.
Add the 2 kg bag of granulated sugar to the water and stir until dissolved.
Add 2 litres of cooling or cooled boiled drinking water to the bucket.
Grate 4 limes and add the lime zest to the bucket.
Juice the limes and add freshly squeezed lime juice to the bucket.
Away from the bucket/s, shake the blossoms to remove insects
Add the 20 elderflower heads in blossom to the ingredients in the bucket.
Add the white wine vinegar and stir the ingredients together in the bucket.
Cover the bucket with a muslim or fine cotton cover with weights (see the third photograph below) and leave to ferment for two to three days in a cool and well ventilated place.
Review the progress of the Elderflower and Lime Sparkling Drink at day 3. Add a pinch of yeast if there are no signs of fermentation.
If the brew was progressing well without the need for yeast, the liquid can be strained and decanted into bottles at day 8. If yeast was added, allow seven days of fermentation before bottling.

Bottling Elderflower with Lime Sparking Drink

In contrast to the usual choice for a homebrew – the glass demijohn or bottling into glass bottles – this recipe works well using recycled plastic 1 litre bottles that have held sparkling water. Recycling plastic bottles rather than using new glass bottles has several practical benefits including cutting down on household waste and reducing breakages during fermentation.

Directions:

The plastic bottles can be prepared for use by rinsing with boiling water including the inside of the bottle cap.
Strain the bucket's contents into a clean household bucket.
Using a 2 metres pipe, decant the brew into the bottles. This recipe is expected to make at least 20 bottles.
Tighten the screw bottle tops and leave to ferment for 7 to 10 days before serving to drink.
Homebrewers of Elderflower with Lime Sparking Drink are encouraged to check the tension of the plastic bottles daily during the fermentation process.

When the bottle top is unscrewed, there will be a distinctive ‘pop’ followed by an effervescent elderflower scent following the alcoholic drink as it pours as shown below in the final photograph. Chill a bottle of Elderflower with Lime Sparkling Drunk to enjoy a late spring or early summer drink.

The copyright of the article Elderflower with Lime Sparkling Drink in Seasonal Cooking is owned by Susan Morris. Permission to republish Elderflower with Lime Sparkling Drink in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.