Getting Busy With the Fizzy

‘Elderflower Champagne, Cordial and Jam are great!’

Summer was rather late arriving this year, which meant the elderflowers were also delayed. However, once they did start to flower, they did so in earnest and it has been a bumper year – or at least it has in East Anglia.

The Elder is referred to as a tree, but is a member of the Honeysuckle family, so it is actually a fast-growing, tall shrub. It is not very prepossessing in the winter months and you may not even notice it. However, when it comes to flower in early summer, the lovely haze of white flowers should catch your attention. Elder can be found in hedgerows, on waste ground, farms, alongside paths and roads.

The Elder has had rather a mixed press through history. On the positive side, it is said to possess magical properties with fairies making their instruments from branches. Whilst some of you may raise your eyebrow quizzically at this suggestion, the branches are certainly easily bored out to make top notch pea shooters, and whistles etc and this has earned the elder its alternative names of the ‘pipe tree’ or ‘bore tree’. The flowers are very good in skin and eye treatments and the leaves can be used in bunches around the home and livestock – e.g. attached to horses’ bridles - to keep flies away.

However, the elder has also been seen as nature’s bad boy. The leaves and berries (if eaten raw) are poisonous, but the root – pardon the pun – of this evil reputation is from the belief that Judas hanged himself from the elder after betraying Christ. It was also widely believed that if you burnt elder on the fire that you would see the devil, which is likely to be have been caused by the slight issue that Elder releases cyanide when it is burning – a problem which may have killed a number of Dark Age peasants in their homes!

But to me the elder is all about the wonderful things I can make from its flowers in early summer and its berries in the autumn. Usually you expect to be foraging for elderflowers from early June through to July (though I start to keep an eye out for them from late May if it has been a mild winter).

Ideally you want to pick them when they are milky white, as this is when the flavour is at its best, rather than when they are a darker cream colour and smelling more strongly (with a slight hint of cats pee – not a great flavouring!)

This year I am celebrating the fact that after two years of bad batches, I have finally produced a rather delectable Elderflower champagne!

I took a good look at my method for making elderflower champagne to see what the possible problems were. First of all, as a jam maker, I naturally reached for the preserving pan.  However, metal is probably not the material to use in this process. I am now using enormous two litre glass jars, but a sterilised plastic bucket is suggested in many recipes. When I made my first batch it was suggested that the ideal yeast to use would be champagne yeast – makes sense when making champagne! However, my brother has made several batches of very nice elderflower champagne using ordinary yeast, so I went with that.

There are a number of recipes around, but I tend to use the River Cottage one, though I have also found a ‘knocks your socks off version’ which I might have to try.

Whichever recipe you try, you need to shake the elderflower heads gently to remove any bugs; don’t wash them as this removes the rather wonderful fragrance and flavour. As with all foraging, be careful where you pick.  You don’t want to be collecting from trees along the roadside or other potential contaminates. Also, please don’t pick all the flowers, as obviously the flowers will become the berries and we will need these later in the year!

A final word of warning about elderflower champagne is that it can be rather volatile. I use fizzy drinks plastic bottles (washed and sterilised), I don’t fill them to the top and I release the pressure slightly every couple of days by twisting the lid.

You can also make a rather lovely elderflower cordial – a favourite of my Mum and Dad. Obviously you can use this to make a squash, but personally I like to use it as syrup and pour it over vanilla ice cream.

It is worth making a lot of the cordial, but you will need to freeze it as it only lasts about six weeks. I make a large batch so that I can then use it in making gooseberry and elderflower jam, gooseberry and elderflower ice cream, or just to ensure that the folks have a good supply of it, to keep me in their good books.

You can also try making elderflower fritters, though not sure if these are genuinely nice, or if it is a case of anything tastes good wrapped in batter. Anyway here is a recipe for you to try:

Elderflower Fritters

• 4 tbsps flour
• 1 egg
• 1.5 cups of water
• Elderflower heads (retain short stalks for dipping)
• Oil
• Fresh mint
• Sugar for dusting
• 1 lemon

1.  Make the batter using the flour, egg and water

2.  Hold the flower head by the stalk and dip into the batter

3.  Shake of any excess batter, then plunge into hot oil and deep-fry until golden brown.

4.  Trim off the excess stalk and serve with some sugar, mint and lemon

Good luck with all your elderflower creations – let me know how you get on!