Hi guy's
WE have a huge Pink Lace Shrub in the front garden, it is of the Elder family.
Have found a recipe for Elderflower cordial which I am now brewing to try.Donna dont drink
If it is ok I am thinking on using the great abundence of flowers to make a wine brew if anybody has a home brew recipe they can send.
Heers hoping (HIC)

Here's some recipes I've been using from the selfsufficientish website

Elderflower Cordial
Ingredients
20 elderflower heads
1 sliced lemon
2 tsp of citric acid (ask at your chemist)
1.5 kg (3.5 lbs) of sugar
1.2 ltr (2.5 pints) boiling water

Method
Boil a kettle for the water.

Fill a bowl or small bucket with all the other ingredients.

Pour the water over the other ingredients and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Skin the surface of the water to get rid of the scum that can arise. Cover with a cloth (mine has a pillow case over it).

Stir twice a day for five days.

Strain though a fine sieve though a fine sieve or through muslin cloth and decant into sterile screw topped bottles. Refrigerate.

As with other cordials dilute with 5 parts water to serve .  Experiment with it and add it to some of your favourite spirits. It is really nice as a gin mixer.

Elderflower Champagne
Similar to elderflower presse and another delicious summer drink

Ingredients
8 litres (2 gallons) water
1.25 kg (2.5 lbs/5 cups) sugar
8 large elderflower heads
4 Lemons
4 tablespoons mild white wine vinegar

Method
Boil the water and pour of the sugar to dissolve it.

Cool and add the elderflowers, juice of the two lemons, slices of the other two and the vinegar.

Cover with a cloth and leave for a day.

Strain with a fine sieve or muslin cloth, squeezing the flowers as you do to release more flavour.

Store in screw top bottles.

It will be ready in about 10 days to a fortnight and should be drunk within a month.

Elderflower wine
Ingredients
Grated rind of one lemon
500mls (1 pint) of elderflowers - to obtain this pick or shake of the elderflowers
and place into a measuring jug. Don't push them down but do shake them down. Be careful not to add any of the bitter green stems.
3.5 litres (8 pints) of boiling water
1.3kg (3 lbs) sugar Juice of one lemon
25g (Half an ounce) yeast

Method
Put lemon rind with the elderflowers and pour over boiling water
Allow to stand for 4 days, stirring occasionally.

Strain through a fine sieve or muslin cloth
Stir in sugar, lemon juice and yeast
Keep at room temperature to ferment, try not to let it go down to 18c (65f)
When you are sure all the bubbling has ceased, stir the wine and allow to settle for 3 days
Strain again carefully
Put in a demijohn (not bottles)
After 3 months maturing, put into bottles.

And another version of the cordial concoted by my mate Mina which she assures me is delicious.

Minamoo's Ginger and Elderflower Cordial:

100 heads of elderflower
7 lemons, zested and squeezed into water
4 litres of boiling water
3kg sugar
100g citric acid
250g raw ginger, grated straight into water

I tend to make cordial in large batches hence the quantities, but feel free to reduce them. It is surprisingly easy however to pick 100 heads of elderflower and this quantity will make approx 6 litres of cordial. Which trust me.......is not enough cordial!

Boil water, stir sugar and citric acid in till dissolved. Zest and squeeze in lemons and add ginger. Pour over elderflowers. Leave to steep for one week. Strain through muslin. Bring to the boil, boil for one minute and bottle it in hot, sterilised glass bottles with hot lids. Done this way, it will keep outside the freezer indefinitely.  

--Last edited by chickenofthewoods on 2009-06-09 13:34:31 --

Thank you. A few bottles for Chrimbo.
Do you have one for Oakleaf wine as ha a bloody great big one outside the front door.
Paul

Well, the cordial was fine!!!!!!
Here goes the WINE! Hic.
Chickenof the woods, thanks for your help.
Paul

You're very welcome. I've got some elderflower champagne on the go at the moment and it's pretty lively stuff! Smells great too. Can't wait to sample the end product.

Oak leaf wine ( I borrowed this from http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/index.asp but haven't tried making it yet - it's adapted from CJJ Berry tho' so should be reliable):

OAK LEAF WINE (Young)
7 pt. new oak leaves
3 lb. granulated sugar
2 oranges, juiced
1 lemon, juiced
1 gallon water
wine yeast and nutrient
Wash the leaves in clean cold water and place in a crock or bucket. Bring 6 pints water to boil and pour over the leaves. Cover and allow to seep for 24 hours, then strain the liquid into a pot large enough to take it and the sugar with a little room to spare. Add the sugar, the juice of the oranges and lemon, and their grated peel. Stir well to dissolve sugar, bring to a boil, then simmer for 20 minutes. Allow to cool to 70 degrees F., strain through nylon sieve, and add remaining ingredients. Transfer to secondary fermentation vessel and fit fermentation trap. Do not top up with water, as the initial four or five days should produce a vigorous fermentation foam. When this has subsided, top up with water and continue fermentation until wine clears (2-3 months). Rack, then rack again after two months and bottle. Allow six months to one year. [Adapted from C.J.J. Berry's 130 New Winemaking Recipes]

OAK LEAF WINE (Old)
7 pt. old (but not brown) oak leaves
3 lb. granulated sugar
2 oranges, juiced
1 lemon, juiced
1 gallon water
wine yeast and nutrient
Wash the leaves in clean cold water and place in a crock or bucket. Bring 6 pints water to boil and pour over the leaves. Cover and allow to seep for 24 hours, then strain the liquid into a pot large enough to take it and the sugar with a little room to spare. Add the sugar, the juice of the oranges and lemon, and their grated peel. Stir well to dissolve sugar, bring to a boil, then simmer for 20 minutes. Allow to cool to 70 degrees F., strain through nylon sieve, and add remaining ingredients. Transfer to secondary fermentation vessel and fit fermentation trap. Do not top up with water, as the initial four or five days should produce a vigorous fermentation foam. When this has subsided, top up with water and continue fermentation until wine clears (2-3 months). Rack, then rack again after two months and bottle. Allow six months to one year. [Adapted from C.J.J. Berry's 130 New Winemaking Recipes]  

--Last edited by chickenofthewoods on 2009-06-18 19:34:20 --

Many many thanks.
Will make a start ASAP.
Most of my neighbours hate the tree outside the front but the owner of the land when it was sold had a clause that it has to stay. It's big enough to make gallons but I don't have storage for the amount I would love to brew.
Again thanks and I will keep you informed on how it turns out.
Paul

Well, that is a gallon of Elderflower and one of Oakleaf on the brew. Hic will be happy soon, I hope!

What about having a go with lime flowers? There are loads about right now. I've borrowed this recipe from Cab's posting on Downsizer forum because it's the one I'll be trying.

Lime Blossom Wine
3 pints lime flowers, snipped from their stalks
2 lemons
3lb sugar
water to one gallon
wine yeast, yeast nutrient

Make a gallon of over-mashed lime flower tea; so, get a straining bag, put the lime flowers in with zest from the two lemons, dissolve the sugar and yeast nutrient in the water along with the lemon juice, boil it, pour it on, let it stand for half an hour. Add yeast when it has cooled, and let it ferment out as for any flower wine (four or five days in primary, then rack as normal).

Makes a very flowery wine; note that this recipe doesn't call for any tannin, grape juice or raisins, its a very subtle, flowery brew.

Well this is my first time at wine making and both the Elderflower & the Oak leaf are still in the early stages and a bit cloudy, but hey. As per the instructions the Oak Leaf was at 6pints for nearly a week and was topped up today. When I took the bung out of the demijon, the araoma of the alcahol, shame it has to mature for longer, so lets see.
Again, many thanks
Paul

Have patience, Grasshopper. :O)

I'm like that when I'm prepping cherries steeped in brandy (which I am at the moment). They're so delicious and the smell is so good it's really hard to wait till Christmas for the end result - but it is worth it.

This week though I have been mostly picking chamomile (and cherries!).