Elderflowers

[happymondays]

Have I missed the elderflower blossom, I have kept putting it off to go and check on a site well about a mile of dis-used pre-war railway line and although the Hawthorn is in blossom the elders seem to be very small green buds or very small green fruit, am I too late?
If so has anyone tried Hawthorn blossom wine as it smells just as good!

Regards Scott.....

[Rich]

Lots of Hawthorn blossom here too, not seen any elderberry flowers yet, there is a big bush at the back of the allotment, doesn't seem to be doing anything yet!

[Her Lushness]

There are a few bits of Elderflower starting to bloom round here in Lincolnshire, I walk my dogs in a park that has LOADS of trees, so I'm checking it daily - I'd guess that it'll be at least another week before it's ready to go, but my gathering bags are ready at the door just in case they bloom earlier...

[Zebedee]

had a quick look in the recipe section and there is only a dried elderflower under 'E'

has anyone got a good 'fresh' flower one ?

[Her Lushness]

Fresh Elderflower Recipe

Here you are; I've not tried this one yet, so good luck...


Elderflower Wine

Try to use flowers that are in full sun as these seem to give the best flavour and bouquet.


1/2 Litre of Petals,stripped off the stalks and packed loosely
1. kg Sugar
250grm grape concentrate or a Litre of apple juice
Pectloase
Tannin
1tsp Yeast Nutrient
1tsp Acid Blend or citric acid
Gervin N0 3 or all purpose yeast.


Strip most of the petals off the stalks, a few bits don't matter,and pour 2 pints boiling water over them.
Leave overnight and add the rest of the ingredients and 4 pints cold water

Leave 2 days and strain into a demi-john.

When the vigourous bubbling slows down,top up to one gall with cold water and leave to ferment out as normal

After about two weeks all the bubbling will have stopped, syphon into a clean demi john and add:
one campden tablet and 1 potassium sorbate tablet.

I usually add Kwik Cleer finings at this point.

It's better to taste the wine before you add the campden tablet, if it's too sweet leave it a bit longer, if it's too dry{sour} you can always sweeten it later.

Using apple juice instead of grape concentrate gives a different wine that tends to mature quicker.

[Richard S]

1/2 Litre of Petals,stripped off the stalks and packed loosely
1. kg Sugar
250grm grape concentrate or a Litre of apple juice
Pectloase
Tannin
1tsp Yeast Nutrient
1tsp Acid Blend or citric acid
Gervin N0 3 or all purpose yeast.


Strip most of the petals off the stalks, a few bits don't matter,and pour 2 pints boiling water over them.
Leave overnight and add the rest of the ingredients and 4 pints cold water

Leave 2 days and strain into a demi-john.

When the vigourous bubbling slows down,top up to one gall with cold water and leave to ferment out as normal

After about two weeks all the bubbling will have stopped, syphon into a clean demi john and add:
one campden tablet and 1 potassium sorbate tablet.

I usually add Kwik Cleer finings at this point.

It's better to taste the wine before you add the campden tablet, if it's too sweet leave it a bit longer, if it's too dry{sour} you can always sweeten it later.

Using apple juice instead of grape concentrate gives a different wine that tends to mature quicker.

I will be making some Elderflower wine myself this year.

No mention of specific gravity readings, I would add sugar up to 1.080ish. This will give a more repeatable result, far better than shooting in the dark and adding sugar by weight.

[happymondays]

Right I will have to keep a check on them from now on in, going to try a Mead with them too.
I was thinking of trying Elderflower and Rose but the Roses won't be up for a while yet, has anyone frozen elderflowers and been ok to use at a later date or will they lose there fragrance do you think?
Thanks for the reassurance all look forward to picking some,

Best Regards Scott.....


p.s. I used some dried elderflowers last Autumn it's still crap but just can't bring myself to ditching it down the sink, living in hope.

[lockwood1956]

You may wish to make a cordial from the Elderflowers

see here for Luc Volders Elderflower cordial recipe

http://wijnmaker.blogspot.com/2008/02/vlierbloesemwijn-elderflower-wine.html

[happymondays]

Cheers Bob looks like another recipe added to the list but will make room for this one, do you think it would last in a kilner jar as a syrup, could be a useful addition to some other ideas, thanks for that Bob,

Regards Scott....


p.s. sorry should take more notice didn't read the post under this for freezing flowers

[lockwood1956]

I think you could make up the elderflower syrup, and use it as a base for your wine, or indeed as an additive to increase bouquet in sweetened wines. It should keep in a sealed kilner jar, yes. Or you could add sulphite as a preservative, 50 ppm (1 Campden tablet per gallon)

ELDERFLOWER SYRUP

Collect Elderflowers in full blossom on a dry day and shake the florets into a preserving (jam making) pan approximately a quart is the minimum quantity required. Just cover with water, simmer for thirty minutes, making good any water boiled away, then squeeze out the juice and return it to the pan. Add ¾ lb of sugar for each pint of liquid and simmer again for ten minutes, skimming if necessary. Allow to cool, bottle , cork and sterilise.

Just a side note.......

dont cut the flower heads from the plant, if you gently shake the petals loose, then the tree will still produce berries later in the year.

[lockwood1956]

had a quick look in the recipe section and there is only a dried elderflower under 'E'

has anyone got a good 'fresh' flower one ?

more than you can shake a stick at here

http://www.winesathome.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=1009

[wipka84]

These are just starting to show.

Mostly small green buds, but some white flower heads.

I guess they'll start to go at it properly in the coming weeks.

[Zebedee]

Just a side note.......

dont cut the flower heads from the plant, if you gently shake the petals loose, then the tree will still produce berries later in the year.

I will be ignoring that bit of advice.
After reading Luc Volder's latest offering about elderflowers, in the interests of science, I'll be trying his method.

Not worried about the lack of berries later,the trees are very abundant round here. So there'll be plenty left to try Colin Tweed's Afro comb harvesting method

[ms67]

me and my better half took advantage of the sunshine yesterday and went picking elderflowers. wow they smell great eh! never made this wine before and have had a pour through the enormous elder wine lists for inspiration. i think my wine will be a bit of a cobbled together hybrid of many recipes with one or two major differences. the details will follow but for now here's some basic info

we got 5 litres of flowers (that is measure after all the trimming has been done!). Gonna make 4 gallons of wine, one or two of which will become sparklers and the rest will be a medium/sweet. I know this is a lot more flowers per gallon than any of the recipes use but the taste of eldeflower cordials is yummy yet subtle. i'm hoping that a big increase in flowers will make a wine that has a much more noticeable flavour from the flowers. Also picked up some white grape juice compound (kit grape wine) by mistake, rather than concentrate. it has glucose syrup in it but otherwise seems to be the same stuff as concentrate? i'll be using sauternes yeast.

tips, advice, thoughts on what i'm doing are most welcome for my maiden voyage into elderflower wine

[ms67]

ok, its on the go, well i just added the yeast so hopefully it'll be on the go soon!

for 4 Gallons

5 litres of flowers (yep thats a heap!) in 3 muslin bags
4 kg sugar
1 litre white grape juice compound (young's definitive medium white)
2 Tspoon citric acid
6 Tspoon Malic acid
4 Tspoon Tartaric acid
nutrient
2 Tspoon grape tannin
Sauternes yeast (ritchies)
Tspoon of campden powder (not crushed tablets - its just what i have)

boiled up a gallon + water and dissolved the sugar in it. Topped up to 4 gallons in FV with cold water and grape juice. Then added everything else (except yeast - as it was too warm). Left overnight, gravity 1092 - around what i want as i should be able to add a little more sugar for the sparkling batch. Added yeast.

i'll be turning over the bags regularly until i transfer to secondary, probably in 3-4 days, any advice welcome on this.

The main difference between this and the recipes i have seen here is that there is more flowers and less grape juice. The reason for this is that i want more flower taste and don't want it to taste like a subtly flavoured white (nothing wrong with that - i just want to take a tangent). Also the flowers are added at the start rather than at secondary stage. This is only because i already had the flowers and didnt want to risk the fridge/freezer for any longer than necessary. The acid combo in the supplied recipes suits me too as i don't want much lemon flavour from the citric acid, normally i like a good citrus hit but i'm gonna depart from my norm this time.

i have no idea whether my plans will produce what i hope for, probably not, but if it comes out with plenty of elderflower flavour and is a pleasant drink then i'll be happy ... and by the time next year's bloom arrives i'll have only a dim and distant memory of how long it took to trim all the flowers so i might even do it again.