Elderflower starts to bloom early June through to July where you'll find local hedgerows full to the brim with the floral, sweet smelling pollen.
Many of Louise's first home-brew kombucha blends experimented with elderflower, and to this day our Sparkling English Rose and Sparkling English Blush feature it.
The Recipe
This is a simple elderflower champagne recipe that we really like. You have the option of using some home-brew kombucha in there, or white wine vinegar depending on what you have to hand. The result will be a live kombucha champagne, or a more traditional sparkling elderflower drink. Both versions are delicious and both will ferment very well due to the wild yeast in the elderflower. It will produce low alcohol levels of around 1.5% once fully carbonated after 2-3 weeks.
Here's Louise talking through the recipe step by step on our Instagram.
Equipment
A brewing jar
Kitchen paper OR a tea towel
Muslin
Citrus juicer and zester
Ingredients
10 elderflower heads
1 1/4 cup sugar
Lemon
3 litres of water - room temperature
Mature homebrew kombucha OR white wine vinegar
Method
1. Gather your elderflower
2. Zest and juice your lemon and add to jar.
3. Add your sugar and pour over the water, and dissolve the sugar with a wooden spoon.
4. Shake the bugs off each elderflower head and drop into the jar.
5. Add 20mls of white wine vinegar or strong kombucha.
6. Alternatively, if you had a homebrew batch of kombucha ready you could replace the water, sugar, and vinegar with strong home-brew kombucha.
7. Seal the jar with a towel and leave for 24 hours.
8. Strain the liquid through the muslin into a jug, then pour the strained elderflower into a swing top or champagne bottle and seal.
9. Wait 1 week before opening the lid and testing for fizz. Re-open every couple of days until it’s fizzy enough and refrigerate. Consume within 2 months as they get very lively.
