Elder Flower Champagne

It's that time again. The beautiful Elder flowers are in bloom. !  Making a mildly alcoholic (1.5 -3.5%) very refreshing champagne is simple.  I have been making it for several years and the following is my recipe.

Elder flowers are also dried or tinctured (I fresh tincture) and used in cold/virus teas or compounded tincures.

First you will need a large glass container with a fairly wide opening at the top and at least a gallon in size.  Walmart, Zellers and Costco all have versions of the container at left for a reasonable price.

You will also need a piece of breathable cotton or a double layer of cheesecloth to cover the top, air has to flow thru.


Jill's Elder Flower Champagne

4 quarts/litres of hot water
4 cups/ or 1000 ml sugar
2 tablespoons White Wine Vinager
2 Lemons sliced thin (wash off any wax)
1 Lime sliced thin                 "
25 Fresh Elder Flower Blossoms
2 Quarts/litres cold water

Place sliced lemons, lime, flower blossoms and vinager in glass container.  Dissolve sugar in hot water and pour over flowers etc, stir well and add the cold water.  Cover container opening with cotton covering and hold in place with an elastic.  Set in cool spot out of direct sun, let sit for two days if a foam has not formed on top, add a pinch of brewer's yeast to get things going.  After foam has set, let sit four more days, stain through coffee filters and store in large plastic pop bottles, check every couple of days and open the lid a bit to let out excess gas, do this until the gas is very little, store for another month and then enjoy ice cold