The second eldergoose episode

Alas, the season has now passed for elderflowers but I’m a bit behind on t
he blog posts and thought I’d put this up for people to bear in mind next year!

A short blog piece, in homage to John of River Cottage fame for this brilliant recipe.... ours has just finished bubbling so we will be siphoning it off soon and tasting the fruits of our labour. Excellent. Don’t get too worried if you don’t hear from me for a few weeks. I’ll be basking in a self-indulgent but happy elderflower and gooseberry wine stupor. I suppose I should let it develop for a few months but will definitely sneak a glass or two from the demijohn first.



The original recipe
2kg green gooseberries (washed, frozen, then defrosted)
Florets from 10 elderflower sprays
1.2kg sugar
3.5 litres water
1 sachet white wine yeast
1 teaspoon yeast nutrient
1 teaspoon grape tannin (optional – it fills a "gap" in the palate with many wines)
1 level teaspoon pectolase (there is a lot of pectin in gooseberries which must be removed to prevent cloudiness)

The mucking about with freezing the gooseberries breaks down the cell walls to release the juices and makes the difficult mashing process a bit easier. Place the defrosted gooseberries in a clean ceramic mixing bowl and gently crush them with the end of a clean rolling pin. It is important not to crush the pips too much as this will release more pectin (and why a blender is no use).

The whole business is messy, with gooseberry juice squirting everywhere. Never mind. Once it is all nicely pulped, transfer to a large, food grade plastic bucket and pour on about three litres of cold water. Add all the other ingredients and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Cover and leave for three days, stirring occasionally.

Strain through a sterilized, doubled muslin cloth, squeezing out as much juice as you can into a clean bucket. Make the quantity up to 4.5 litres with more water.

Siphon into a demi-john and fit a bubble-trap. Rack off into a new demi-john at least once, then, when all fermentation has ceased and the wine has cleared, siphon into bottles.

Taste of Summer

Few things signal the beginning of the summer than the short-lived but much-loved elderflower season. Over the course of just a few weeks, the elder tree bursts into blossom with huge frothy heads of creamy white blossoms. That’s why every single opportunity over the last few weeks (amidst the hell of revision), I’ve been scampering off into the neighbouring fields and plucking a head here, a head there and turning it into some rather delicious things.

Of course, now the exams are over the weather is being rather temperamental, so what better thing to do than hole up with some choice ingredients and make some jars/ bottles of good stuff? Well, apart from indulge my newly found love of Mad Men (why did no one tell me how utterly brilliant this programme is, I’ve devoted the whole day to its enjoyment and I don’t feel it’s a day much wasted).

The first – a classic but a winner. The deceptively simple and eminently quaffable elderflower champagne. I love a bit of booze, especially when you can make it for almost free. Seasoned foodies will almost definitely have had a shot at making their own – those that haven’t will probably have to wait until next year now (although there was some excellent elderflowers lingering on in Scotland last weekend) but I thought I’d include the recipe anyway....

The golden caster sugar gives the final product a beautiful amber colour and I love the muskier taste it infuses the liquid with but normal sugar will do just fine and dandy.

The second was my favourite, elderflower and gooseberry jam, bringing together the magical pairing of flavours in one delicious conserve. The elderflower heads are torn into smaller pieces and then left in the jam for a beautiful effect once it’s set.



Unfortunately in my excitement I didn’t get to take pictures of the finished product but considering it’s got a thumbs up from Jon who rather detests gooseberries, I don’t think it’s half bad. The pungent taste of the elderflower is offset by the slight tartness of the gooseberry and the tonne of sugar you put in. Now all I need is to bake a load of bread to enjoy it with.

And tonight? We’ll be trying our hands at John Wright’s Elderflower and Gooseberry Wine – today’s part sounds interesting. Mashing the gooseberries with a rolling pin and trying to stop them from ending up on the kitchen ceiling... I’ll let you know how that one goes.

Elderflower champagne
10 large heads of elder flowers - make sure that they are fully open, preferably facing the Sun
1kg of golden caster sugar
4 tablespoons of wine vinegar
2 lemons
10 litres of cold water

Wash the lemons and use the potato-peeler to peel the lemon rind off as thinly as possible. Remove any insects, leaves or other unwanted objects from the elder flowers.
Squeeze the lemons and put the juice into the ten-litre vessel along with the lemon rind and flowers.
Add the sugar and the vinegar. Be careful not to crush the flower heads too much with the sugar.
Pour on the water. Put a lid or cover over the top of the vessel and leave to stand for 24 hours. Stir gently every six hours.
Sterilise the bottles either using sterilising chemical tablets or boiling water. If you use chemical tablets, rinse the bottles afterwards so that the chemicals don't kill the yeast in the champagne mixture.
Take the lid off the vessel and remove any large flower heads or bits of rind.
Use the small jug to bail some of the mixture through the sieve and into the large jug. When the large jug becomes full, place the funnel in the top of a bottle. Pour the mixture through the strainer into the funnel.
Once all the bottles are full, put the caps (or corks) on firmly and place somewhere not too warm or too cold. A garage shelf is ideal
Leave the bottles for at least two weeks... after that, it’s a game of whether you can keep your grubby mitts of the bottles or not...

Gooseberry and elderflower jam (from Joanna Farrow’s Seasonal Preserves)
1kg gooseberries topped and tailed
Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
900g preserving / granulated sugar
6-8 elderflower heads chopped into smallish pieces
Tip the gooseberries into a preserving pan with lemon zest and juice plus 150ml water. Cook gently for about 15 minutes until the gooseberries are tender and pulpy.
Stir in the sugar and stir gently until the sugar dissolves
Stir in the elderflower heads and bring to the boil – boil for about 10 minutes until setting point is reached. Ladle into sterilized jars and cover.