With summer finally reaching the shores of the United Kingdom, the populace is rushing out to make the most of the summer sun before the notoriously unpredictable British weather makes a sudden and dramatic change for the worse.

Although thoughts naturally drift to BBQ’s and beer, meat, meat and more meat, all washed down with gallons of cheap foreign beer, there are a growing number of people who are instead choosing a more sophisticated approach.

With the increasing popularity of all things natural and organic, more and more of us are choosing to grow our own foods and forage out in the wild larder for a free snack or accompaniment to a home-cooked recipe.

A different approach to the traditional meaty BBQ and beer is the altogether different offering of home grown salads, fruit puddings and homemade wines to be enjoyed with friends and family. Many would say that the experience of sharing your homegrown and home-prepared food and drink with those closest to you provides a more fulfilling experience; if nothing more, a talking point of how, where and when the foods on offer can be found and prepared.

One topic that has always been popular with the majority of Brits is homemade alcohol. With tales of explosions in the garage and an end product that can strip paint from doors or power the next space mission to the moon, there has always been a dramatic side to this once popular pastime. With the economic crunch putting a squeeze on the amount of cash people are prepared to spend on fancy beers and wines, a re-emergence of the home brew enthusiast as popular as in the 1970’s is upon us.

Elderflower champagne is one of the easiest and quickest of all summer beverages to make, perfect for those lazy summer days and evenings in the garden and ideal for a novice starting out on the home brewing path.

Elderflower is abundant in early to mid summer and easily identifiable by its flower and fragrance. With any wild food however, care should be taken to correctly identify what you are taking home to eat or drink. Do your research before you embark on your foraging mission, and take pictures and a written description from a book or the internet to help you.

A quick search on the internet will turn up numerous variations of this light and refreshing homemade champagne, all of which can be tweaked to some degree or another to produce something personal to your own tastes, but here is one to get you started.

The following recipe makes around 6 litres, but if you like it and want to make more, just increase the quantities.

Ingredients:

• 4 litres hot water
• 700g sugar
• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• Juice & zest of four lemons
• Around 15 elderflower heads, in full bloom
• Yeast may not be needed as Elderflower contains its own, but if the fermentation process doesn’t start on its own, a pinch of yeast may be needed to kick start the process.

Method:

1. Put the 4 litres hot water and sugar into a large container and stir until the sugar dissolves. Top up with 2 litres of cold water so you have 6 litres in total.

2. Add the lemon juice and zest, the white wine vinegar and the Elderflower heads, then stir gently.

3. Cover with clean muslin and leave to ferment in a cool, airy place for a couple of days. Take a look at the brew at this point, and if it’s not foaming a little indicating that it’s beginning to ferment, add a pinch of yeast.

4. Leave the mixture to ferment, again covered with muslin, for a further four days. Strain the liquid through a sieve lined with muslin and decant into sterilised strong glass bottles with champagne stoppers or Grolsch-style metal swing tops, or sterilized screw-top plastic bottles (a good deal of pressure can build up inside as the fermenting brew produces carbon dioxide, so strong bottles and seals are essential).

5. Seal the bottles and leave your champagne to ferment in the bottles for at least a week before serving, chilled. The champagne should keep in the bottles for several months if they are stored in a cool, dry place.

To be on the safe side, it’s better to store the champagne in a cool shed or garage so that if any bottles do explode, you’re not left with a sticky mess to clear up around the house.

Lastly, sit in the garden with a bowl of fresh strawberries, preferably home grown straight from the plant, before your visitors arrive and take time to appreciate what you have created Enjoy.

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