Elderflower Champaign – A Czech Grandmother’s recipe

Elderflowers lane

Elderflowers bloom along the paths between the fields around our village.  With a basket in hand we head out to gather flowers for a delightful summer drink.

Elderflower Champaign

A Czech Grandmother’s recipe

5 litres boiling water
1 kg. white sugar
10 heads of elderflowers
2 teaspoons citric acid
2 tablespoons vinegar

Dissolve sugar in water; add lemons, elderflowers and vinegar. Cover loosely with a tea towel and leave on a sunny window sill. After 3 days, strain and bottle. Use capped beer bottles or plastic carbonated water bottles. The drink will become naturally carbonated in about 2 weeks
Will keep for up to a year.

Elderflower Fizz, Wines and Cordial

Elderflower Fizz

The elderflowers are blooming along the edge of my garden. It is time to celebrate the coming summer with Elderflower Fizz, Wine and Cordial. Here are some recipes for you to try.

Elderflower Fizz

20 elderflower heads

2 tablespoon citric acid

1,5 kg. (3,5 lbs) sugar

7 litres boiling water

wine yeast

Find a bush of elerflowers off the road in a clean area away from traffic. Pick elderflowers in the morning before the heat of the day. Lay out the flowers on an outdoor table covered with news papers. This will give any insects time to escape.

Put 2 of the 7 litres of water on to boil. Then return to the table and separate flowers from stalks. Don’t worry if there is a small amount of stock near the flowers. I just hold the flowers in one hand and snip the stem off near the blossoms with a pair of scissors. Put flowers, sugar and citric acid in a large pot, jar or bucket and pour boiling water over them. Stir well to dissolve sugar, add the remaining water, cover with sterile cloth, and set aside several hours until cool. Add yeast, stirring briefly, recover with cloth. Ferment six days, strain off flowers. Put in plastic water bottles with loose lids. Set in fridge and chill. DO NOT TIGHTEN LIDS ON BOTTLES! IF YOU DO,THE GAS WILL CAUSE THE BOTTLES TO EXPLODE! [ From my recipes]

ALCOHOLIC ELDERFLOWER CHAMPAGNE

Grated rind of one lemon
500ml/1 pint of elderflowers
3.5 litres/8 pints of boiling water
1.3kg/3 lbs sugar
Juice of one lemon
Champagne yeast

Put flowers into fermentation bin and mix with lemon rind. Pour over boiling water and allow to stand for 4 days, stirring occasionally.

After 4 days strain through a fine sieve or muslin cloth. Stir in sugar, lemon juice and yeast. Keep at room temperature to ferment, try not to let it go down to 18°c.

When you are sure all the bubbling has ceased, stir the wine and allow to settle for 3 days Strain in demijohn and allow to ferment fully.

Bring 200ml of water to the boil and add 70g of sugar. Allow to cool then strain the wine into a another demijohn leaving the sediment. Add the 200ml of sugar solution and leave in a warm place for 24 hours.

Siphon into champagne bottles seal with champagne corks and secure them in place with metal cages. The wine should be kept at room temp for the first 10 days. After this time it is moved to a cooler place, such as a cellar. They should initially be stored horizontally and over the next three months they should be gradually moved upside down. This can be done by placing the neck into sand. Chill for 24 hours before serving and do not disturb the bottle before opening. [From Andy Hamiton's book, Seasonal Booze for Free]

ELDERFLOWER WINE

1 pt fresh elderflowers

12 oz can frozen white grape juice concentrate

2 lbs granulated sugar

1-1/2 tsp acid blend

1 crushed Campden tablets

6-1/2 pts water

1 tsp yeast nutrient

wine yeast

Thaw out grape juice concentrate and then put water on to boil. While water rises to a boil, separate flowers from stalks and wash to remove insects and road dust. Put flowers, sugar and grape juice concentrate in primary and pour boiling water over them. Stir well to dissolve sugar, cover with sterile cloth, and set aside several hours until cool. Add acid blend, crushed Campden and yeast nutrient, stirring briefly. Recover and set aside for 24 hours. Add yeast. Ferment six days, strain off flowers, pour liquor into secondary, and fit airlock. Rack when specific gravity is at 1.005, top up and refit airlock. After additional three months, stabilize, sweeten to taste, wait ten days, and rack into bottles. Age six months before tasting. [ From Jack Kelly,s The Winemaking Homepage]

ELDERFLOWER WINE

1-1/2 pt fresh elderflowers

2 lbs granulated sugar

1-1/2 tsp acid blend

1 crushed Campden tablets

7 pts water

1 tsp yeast nutrient

wine yeast

Put water on to boil. Meanwhile, separate flowers from stalks and wash to remove insects and road dust. Put flowers and sugar in primary and pour boiling water over them. Stir well to dissolve sugar, cover with sterile cloth, and set aside several hours until cool. Add acid blend, crushed Campden and yeast nutrient, stirring briefly. Recover and set aside for 24 hours. Add yeast. Ferment six days, strain off flowers, pour liquor into secondary, and fit airlock. Rack when specific gravity is at 1.005, top up and refit airlock. After additional three months, stabilize, sweeten to taste, wait ten days, and rack into bottles. Age six months before tasting. [Adapted from Steven A. Krause's Wines from the Wild]

Elderflower syrup

Elderflower Cordial

The Niche

What does a girl do when her computer crashes so she can’t blog?  She works on renovating her old house.  This week a virus took over my computer.  Someone succeeded in interrupting my routine for a while.  My dear husband worked for a week-end to clear up the mess and put me back on-line.  I am a lucky woman to have such a techno man in my life.

I spent my week-end finishing a niche in the side of our barn.  Last week I dropped into a second-hand shop and found this Madonna tucked away in a back corner of the shop.  When I told the shop keeper that I wanted to buy her, he was surprised.  Religious relics are not very popular here.  He asked me if I had had too much to drink.  I didn’t bother to explain that I was restoring an old house and she was the perfect size for the niche in the wall.  Now she is back in a place of honor where she seems quite at home.

The niche

Mother’s Day 2012

I spent Mother’s Day climbing through the rafters of our barn’s roof.  My husband and I were so intent on getting this project done we both forgot about the fact that it was a special day for celebration.  Late in the evening, after I had come down from the roof and showered, I opened my e-mail and read greetings from my mother and sister.  Fortunately, I live half way around the world from them so I was able to call and wish them a happy Mother’s Day too.

Although my we forgot this special day, it seemed like my garden remembered.  There are flowers everywhere!  Before I went up on the roof I gathered a bunch of peonies to put in a vase for my table.  I couldn’t resist snapping a few photos of my Mother’s Day flowers to share with you.

The snails are back!

Snails are running around in my garden.  They have emerged from their winter nap and are frolicking among my irises and rose bushes.  I gathered up around twenty nice big ones the other morning and put them in my snail box to fatten up.  In a couple of weeks they will be on my dinner plate.

Snail box

Preparing Escargot

Escargots baked in garlic butter

“Escargots à la bourguignonne”

Spaghetti e Lumache – Snails and Spaghetti

Spaghetti e Lumache – Snails and Spaghetti

An Early Morning Visit

An early morning visitor

 

We had an early morning visit from the hedgehog who live under our rambling rose bush.  She has built a nice little house of green moss and twigs.  Each year the house  seems to get a little bigger.  Maybe there are new arrivals to the family.  The family of hedgehogs were here when we arrived.  They used to live in our school-house before we renovated it.  Then they moved to the barn.  After we started renovating the barn they moved under the rosebush.  We often see her in the summer at dawn.  Last year she had two little hedge hogs in tow. 

The facade on the barn is finished!

Tuesday was a state holiday in the Czech Republic.  I had an extra day to work on one of our many projects around our house.  When I got up and saw  it was a pretty day, I checked the forecast.  The forecast was for three days of sunny weather, so I chose to paint the barn.  The paint I use is a simple combination of slacked lime, natural pigments and salt.  The limewash has a soft, matte finish.  It is porous and allows the wall to breath.  It ages well maturing with time.  It  is a natural choice of paint for a lime plastered wall.   The limewash cures through a reaction with carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.  It takes a few days to harden.  After it has harden the wall can withstand rain therefore making an excellent exterior paint.  I mixed up the paint in the morning.  By mid-morning I had my scaffolding in place and started painting.  By the end of the day I was finished.  I can finally mark this project off my list.  What a sense of satisfaction I get when I think that this job is completed.

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