Can you freeze flowers?

[Landy813]

My tree has now started to flower which is earlier than last year, i am sure it will be ready to collect from in a few weeks. I work away from home a lot and missed the flowers last year so i wondered if flowers can be frozen before use, as i am not around for the next 1-2 months again. My wife will pick them for me and freeze them, will it work?

I also have lots of lavender so plan on a elderflower and lavender wine as an experiment because i have blended the two wines and liked the taste so thought I'd do it from scratch.

Any thoughts appreciated

[Duffbeer]

Yes they will freeze fine.

[Her Lushness]

Elderflowers

Just as a matter of interest, I see that it's possible to freeze the flowers and presumably the berries, but how easy is it to dry the flowers / berries instead?
I'm not sure how much freezer space I can get away with allocating to winemaking stuff and I doubt my partner would be too impressed if I got another freezer specifically for my wild fruit (we've already got 2 freezers in the garage!) especially as he can never find a clean towel owing to them having been relocated from the airing cupboard for some reason... and he's starting to wonder if I might relocate him soon to get more space for fermenting wine...
Also I want to freeze a load of sloes again this year as I am rather partial to sloe gin and sloe wine.

Her Lushness

[Biggles]

Was going to start a thread this week about elder flowers but as this one is in here and slightly liked will jump on the wagon.

Can you get flowers and berries off the same bush in one season or does taking the flowers stop the berries.

Do you just pull the white part of the flower off at the road side of take more and clean it back at home.

[Her Lushness]

Was going to start a thread this week about elder flowers but as this one is in here and slightly liked will jump on the wagon.

Can you get flowers and berries off the same bush in one season or does taking the flowers stop the berries.

Do you just pull the white part of the flower off at the road side of take more and clean it back at home.

Ooooh, I'm glad you asked these ones, coz I've been wondering too!

[Mamgiowl]

Was going to start a thread this week about elder flowers but as this one is in here and slightly liked will jump on the wagon.

Can you get flowers and berries off the same bush in one season or does taking the flowers stop the berries.

Do you just pull the white part of the flower off at the road side of take more and clean it back at home.

For every flower head you take that is one less bunch of berries. You need to make like a butterfly and flit from tree to tree otherwise you'll have nothing to pick come Autumn.

When gathering flowers just cut the whole head off and take home to clean.

[Biggles]

For every flower head you take that is one less bunch of berries. You need to make like a butterfly and flit from tree to tree otherwise you'll have nothing to pick come Autumn.

When gathering flowers just cut the whole head off and take home to clean.

Beautiful, thanks for the answer. That was in the past the way that i have got the berries and was hoping that would be the way.

[lockwood1956]

After speaking with Luc Volders at Brouwland last week, and discovering he always turns his flowers into cordial, Martina and I decided to pick some lilac flowers from her garden and turn them into syrup/cordial, it works nicely, and its something I will do more of.

will maybe do a tutorial when I get home (I leave Germany today sniff sniff)

Maybe Martina (Danina) will do a tutorial on it instead.

it is my understanding (could be wrong) that if you just gently shake the petals from the elder into a brown paper bag once they have fully bloomed, then berries will still be produced, much the same as they would be when the flower petals all from the tree, but if you take them too early then it wont set fruit

regards
Bob

[medpretzel]

Quick reply, as my loving boyfriend is still here.... (How geeky are WE? Both on different computers on WinesAtHome answering the same post)

But...

I'm going to take a guess and you mean lilac instead of lavender. In fact, Bob and I picked lilac and made a cordial out of them.

You can freeze lilac as well, but be aware, they will turn brown, but still make a delicious wine. If you have purple lilacs, use red grape concentrate for the wine, if you have white, I would probably keep using white grape concentrate.

All flowers freeze okay, some better than others (lilac is an example that might not freeze the way you'd like them to). Chrysanthemums, daylilies, marigolds, and hibiscus all freeze well and retain their color. Lilacs and roses tend to look more drab or even brown. The taste remains the same for all, however.

This year will be my first with elderberries, so I will certainly be posting some pics when I do so - so you more experienced winemakers can slap me on the wrists with my technique. I've gotten some quite shocked looks from Bob these past 10 days for my winemaking skills.


M.

[lockwood1956]

I've gotten some quite shocked looks from Bob these past 10 days for my winemaking skills.


M.

Well at least there were no parsnips fermenting!!!

[Mamgiowl]

Yet!

Unless, of course, they're hidden away while you're there.

[medpretzel]

Oh no....

I had him taste all my wines (finished and unfinished) and well... only he can tell you something about it. He was too positive to me (for some that are really shite), but him being a wine judge, I hope he'll post his "real comments" once sober.

[lockwood1956]

I had him taste all my wines (finished and unfinished) and well... only he can tell you something about it. He was too positive to me (for some that are really shite), but him being a wine judge, I hope he'll post his "real comments" once sober.

there were no bad wines among them, and some (especially the dandelion and the Yorkshire wine) show great potential

(i've still not sobered up tho...another mammoth drinkypoo at Karls last night....struggling today)