Unbought Delicacies: Elderflower wine

Wednesday, 16 June 2010

Elderflower wine

One of the very best of the summer flower wines to make - quick, easy, abundance of main ingredient, quick to mature - what's not to love about all that? lol

For one gallon:

1 pint of flowers, gathered when sunny and dry
1 gallon hot water (not boiling)
2 1/2 lbs sugar
1 lemon, sliced
1 teabag
1 tbsp dried yeast

Remove any leaves and thick stems from the flowers; I've found that the very fine green stalks amke no difference, so no need to be too pernickity. Place in brewing bucket/pan and pour over the water; add sugar and stir to dissolve, add lemon and teabag. Stir. Activate the yeast, and add it to the wine when the liquid reaches blood heat. Cover closely and leave in a warm place for 4 - 5 days, then strain into a demi-john and leave to ferment out. Rack off after 6 weeks, then bottle when sttled - another 2 weeks or so. Can be drunk at about 6 months or so, but does improve with age.
Lovely served ice cold, preferably sitting out in the garden :)

3 comments:

alison young said...: thanks for sharing this recipe,can't wait to have a go,do you use any particular yeast?; 16 June 2010 at 16:37
MrsL said...: I just use what I have in, Alison - breadmaking yeast most of the time. It does the job well. I always activate the dried eyast in a little warm water and a tsp of sugar just to get it going, then add it in to the warm liquid

MrsL

x; 16 June 2010 at 21:28
thesnailgarden said...: Oh thank you for the recipe, I will save it for next year as I love elderflowers. Best wishes, Pj x; 28 June 2010 at 08:37

I have found such joy

I have found such joy in simple things;
A plain, clean room, a nut-brown loaf of bread,
A cup of milk, a kettle as it sings,
The shelter of a roof above my head,
And in a leaf-laced square along the floor,
Where yellow sunlight glimmers through the door.
I have found such joy in things that fill
My quiet days: a curtain's blowing grace,
A potted plant upon my window sill,
A rose, fresh-cut and placed within a vase;
A table cleared, a lamp beside a chair,
And books I long have loved beside me there.
Oh, I have found such joys I wish I might
Tell every woman who goes seeking far
For some elusive, feverish delight,
That very close to home the great joys are:
The elemental things- old as the race,
Yet never, through the ages, commonplace.

~ Grace Noll Crowell

Ideas for handmade gifts

Small knitteds - gloves, scarves, hot water bottle covers, hats, tea cosies, phone covers, little toys,,cushion covers, bags. Some of these can be felted/fulled for extra interest.
Edibles - chutneys and jams, pickles, nice teas in a vintage/retro tin, sweeties, toffees, mustard, home made wine and liqueurs, home dried fruits, ketchups.
For the home - trimmed tea towels, handknitted dishcloths, quilted wallhangings, small samplers, restored picture frames, pot pourri, lavender bags, covered coathangers, little scented bags for hanging on handles, framed photos of family,etc you've taken yourself, pincushion,needle book, scissor keeper, book of promises (eg babysitting, 1 hour's housework, the ironing, etc)
Bathtime - homemade soap, bath oils, bath salts, knitted washcloths, herbal bags for the bath, hand sewn toilet bags, trimmed hand towels, homemade lotions and potions packed in pretty jars and bottles.
For the garden - home saved seed in handmade decorated packets; homemade handcream, exfoliating soap, wheat bag for those digger's aches and pains!

Handmade books, personalised printed notepaper and envelopes.
Hamper of bits and bobs from the above lists, packed in a pretty lined basket.

I'll add some more as and when I think of them; These can be used all year round and easily tailored to the recipient - everyone loves a homemade gift. :)

Inspiring thoughts.............

I saw a man, an old Cilician, who occupied an acre or two of land that no one wanted.
A patch not worth the ploughing, unrewarding for flocks, unfit for vineyards;
he, however, by planting here and there among the scrub cabbages or white lilies and verbena and flimsy poppies, fancied himself a king in wealth, and coming home late in the evening, loaded his board with unbought delicacies.
Virgil

I had no theories to prove. I merely wanted to try living by my own hands, independently as far as possible from a system of division of labour in which the participant loses most of the pleasure of making and growing things for himself. I wanted to bring in my own fuel and smell its sweet smell as it burned in the hearth I had made. I wanted to grow my own food, or forage after it. In short I wanted to do as much as I could for myself, because I had already realised from partial experience the inexpressible joy of doing so.

Harlan Hubbard, Shantyboat: A River Way of Life

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Wednesday, 16 June 2010

Elderflower wine

3 comments: