*This year the elderflower fizz is becoming particularly explosive so please be mindful.and consider making without added yeast – I wish I had!!
Since my Elderflower Fizz got the whole street drunk last Summer, people have been asking for my recipe.
It took a few attempts to get to this point but I think I’ve finally got the balance just right. We’ll drink some bottles when they’re young and keep the rest somewhere cool while it matures.
I would heartily reccomend this recipe to anyone but it comes with a warning and a disclaimer.
Warning – when left to mature, even for a couple of weeks, this is rocket fuel! I’m not sure how alcoholic it is but let’s just say it has a warming effect and you really must open it carefully. I opened one bottle and the explosion must’ve gone 20ft in the air!
Disclaimer – don’t say I didn’t warn you about the above. I won’t be held responsible for repainting your ceiling.
You will need *makes 3 litres
6 Elderflower heads
1 unwaxed lemon
345g caster sugar
15ml white wine vinegar
2250ml water
A teeny 1/8 teaspoon Universal wine yeast (optional)
Method
- Sort through your elderflowers. Discard any that look a little brown or smell a bit like wee – yes I’m serious old Elderflower smells a bit like wee!
- Pull the flowers off the stems as best you can and place them in a large bowl or bucket
- Peel the lemon and add it to the bucket, add the lemon juice too
- Add the caster sugar and yeast and stir well. The yeast isn’t 100% necessary. I made some with and without and the main difference was that the fizz made with a little wine yeast was less sweet
- Add the water and stir well
- Cover with a muslin cloth and set aside for w-3 days, stirring once a day
- After 2-3 days, stir and then carefully strain the fizz using a sieve lined with a muslin cloth
- At this point it will still be quite sweet and very lightly sparkling. The fizziness builds up while it’s in the bottle
- Pour into plastic bottles. I’ve used glass in my pictures because they look pretty and because these are the bottles we’ll drink young. Elderflower fizz can become quite volatile and so glass bottles could be dangerous. If you do decide to let your fizz mature and get a bit boozy then be sure to ‘burp’ your bottles every now and again to avoid them becoming too explosive!
Some people would call this Elderflower champagne but champagne is made with grapes and not flowers and it’s definitely not thrown together in a Wigan kitchen! So I call it Elderflower Fizz. You can call it whatever you like when you make it, but please do send me your pictures when you do.
Love Rachel ❤
