![]() Stir the water gently and cover the top of the bucket with a clean tea towel or a large plate – anything that is not airtight will do. Add the flowers to the bucket and discard the stalks. Pick or snip the flowers from the stalks, handling them as gently as possible to avoid shaking off the aromatic pollen.Add the zest, juice and remains of the lemons to the bucket. Pare or grate the zest from the lemons and squeeze the juice. Add the sugar and stir vigorously to dissolve (you may need to warm the water a little if the weather is cold – if so, allow the water to cool again before proceeding). Put 5 litres of water into the bucket. ![]() Sterilise the bucket, spoon, lemon squeezer and grater (or potato peeler) using the sterilising powder by following the instructions on the pack.(The scent of chemicals will disappear once everything has dried).Our trick is to buy a batch of supermarket table water, using the water to make the champagne and decanting our brew into the empty plastic bottles. Plastic is a safer, more accessible option. If you want to use glass, you’ll need to get hold of champagne bottles which have heavyweight glass specially designed to withstand the pressure of the gas that builds up during fermentation, and use special corks and wire cages. Though plastic bottles are something that we all ought to be avoiding as a rule, we use them here for safety reasons. In the unlikely event that you find yourself with a half-drunk bottle that’s gone flat, just put it back in the fridge for a couple of days to restore its sparkle. If you don’t drink your champagne as soon as it’s ready, bear in mind that it will keep getting fizzier and you’ll need to ‘burp’ the bottles as time goes on (just open the caps every now and then to release any gas that has built up). The fizz in elderflower champagne is generated by active yeasts that will continue to work in the bottle for up to four months. This recipe makes 5 litres – but if you have a large enough bucket, you can make a larger batch simply by multiplying the quantities. A beautifully light, sparkling summer drink that’s easy to make and requires no specialist equipment. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |