Small Batch Elderflower Champagne

Taken from the excellent food blog by  Choclette @ Tin and Thyme

A delightful light floral bubbly drink made from foraged elder flowers. If you haven’t made elderflower champagne before, it’s definitely worth a go. A glass of chilled floral fizz on a summer’s day is so refreshing.
Prep Time
20 mins
Cook Time
0 mins
Soaking & Brewing Time
15 d
Total Time
15 d 20 mins

Ingredients
1.5 litres water
150 g golden sugar – granulated or caster
1 lemon
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
4 elderflower heads

Instructions
Boil the water and pour into a large glass or pottery bowl. Add the sugar and stir until it’s dissolved. Leave to cool to room temperature.
1.5 litres water,150 g golden sugar – granulated or caster
Cut the lemons in half, squeeze in the juice, then throw in the lemon halves. Don’t worry about any pips that go in. Add the vinegar and give a good stir.
1 lemon,1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
Remove the flowers from the stalks and dunk them into the liquid. A fork works well for this. Alternatively, place the heads downwards so that the stems are poking up out of the water.
4 elderflower heads
Cover the bowl with a clean tea towel and leave it to soak for twenty four hours.
Line a large sieve with a clean muslin cloth and sit it over a large clean jug. Ladle the liquid into the sieve to filter out the flowers, lemon and any other unwanted bits.
As soon as the jug is full decant the liquid into sterilised bottles, preferably those with screw cap lids. Leave a 3 cm gap at the top. Unless you have a steady hand, you might want to use a funnel to pour the liquid into the bottles. Continue to strain until it’s all bottled.
It’s important that you keep the lids loose at this stage. Carbon dioxide builds up quite quickly and the bottles might explode if the gas can’t escape. If you are using corks or flip tops, then open the bottles once a day to let the gas escape, then reseal. You can use plastic screw top bottles if you like, but I prefer glass, despite the possibility of explosions.
Notes
The elderflower champagne is ready to drink after two weeks. If you’re not going to drink it straight away, screw the lids down tightly. Store in a cool dark place and it should keep for several months. If it’s too warm the champagne may continue to ferment and you may end up with exploding bottles.
Produces about 1.8 litres. If you want to make more than this just double, triple or quadruple the ingredients.
Please note: calories and other nutritional information are per serving. They’re approximate and will depend on exact ingredients used.
Nutrition
Serving: 125ml | Calories: 51kcal | Carbohydrates: 13g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 1mg | Potassium: 12mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 13g | Vitamin A: 13IU | Vitamin C: 5mg | Calcium: 2mg | Iron: 1mg