Smart Door Power Options

[Sunshine]

Had a bit of an accident with my elderflower cordial today. I lifted it up and noticed that some had managed to leak out of the bowl, turns out the bowl has a crack in it which i didn't notice before i used it for the cordial. Cordial has now been transferred to a pan. It smells absolutely gorgeous, can't wait to try some. Still wondering how the champagne is going to turn out, i'm bottling it tomorrow.

[Charlottechicken]

Good questions. I wondered that.

I have my cordial in a brewing bucket, covered with cling film then with my jam pan lid on top.

 

I use a large plastic mixing bowl covered with a tea towel for my champagne, just sitting on the kitchen counter, and a smaller bowl for the cordial, again with a tea towel on the top.

 

Is that really all that goes into the champagne? It dosent seem like there is much in it to the quantity of water.

 

Doesn't look much does it? Last year my champagne wasn't too fizzy on account of me using fairly old flower heads. It got there eventually, but the fresher the flower head the better, it's the pollen which acts as yeast, so you need plenty of pollen

 

If you've never made it before, it is a really light gently sparkling drink, you'll love it But I believe it does have an alcohol content, so no drinking and driving

[Chucky Mama]

I am about to make some elderflower cordial but last time I made it it all went fizzy and exploded. How can I stop this from happening this year and also how do you all sterilise your bottles?

[Cinnamon]

Humph.

 

2 lemon slices which were not quite submerged in the cordial mix went green,rendering the whole blooming lot useless

[Mrs Frugal]

I am about to make some elderflower cordial but last time I made it it all went fizzy and exploded. How can I stop this from happening this year and also how do you all sterilise your bottles?

 

Not sure why it exploded, CM. I've had it go a bit fizzy before but as it gets used fairly quickly it's not got bad enough to explode, thank goodness.

 

I sterilize my glass bottles using baby bottle sterilizing solution. Works a treat.

[Chucky Mama]

Thanks Kate,I'm off to do some picking then. I am amazed at how quickly it comes into flower and don't want to miss the boat.

[Sunshine]

I think i have ruined my elderflower champagne. I quickly washed the flowers before i used them thinking it would get the bugs off. However i have since read thats its the yeast in the elderflowers that made the elderflower champagne fizz. Now i know why mine isn't starting to fizz.

 

Is there a way to make it go right again-adding some yeast? Or is it too late(its' been bottled since tues) Should i just throw my stuff away and start again but not wash the flowers?

 

Help please!

 

Emma

 

I've just bottled my first batch of elderflower cordial and it smells yummy, its now in the fridge so i can have some with tea. Should these flowers not have been washed either?

[Chucky Mama]

How long does Elderflower champagne keep for ?

[Charlottechicken]

How long does Elderflower champagne keep for ?

 

Depends how strong your willpower is

[Mrs Frugal]

We opened a bottle on Christmas Day last year and it was lovely. I did make sure that I released the cap on the bottle at regular intervals though after having one explode spectacularly which caused a lot of damage a few years beforehand . Once the fizz had settled down, it was fine to leave until Christmas.

[Valkyrie]

Tested the HFW recipe today - yuk! Very fizzy, but toooooo sweet. It was like fizzy undiluted cordial. So we have now completed 3 batches of Kates recipe - because that's the nicest one. Now mind how you get through that door Kate - in case you get your head stuck! We have also done one batch of cordial too. Our first batch of Kate's champers is still brewing and now just under a fortnight to go. We now drive along and our eyes are drawn to all the elder trees and wish we had more pots and pans - very frustrating!

[Mrs Frugal]

I'm glad you like the recipe, Koojie. It's from a Reader's Digest book and they are usually nice, reliable recipes . I get "Elder Picker's Eye" when we're driving along country lanes and have to resist the urge to shout "Stop the car!" when I see a particularly good lot of blossoms .

[Valkyrie]

You said it so well - I look for places that you can stop the car, so that I can ear mark the trees for a later date! So now I know what it's called - Elder Picker's Eye!

Well so as not to waste HFW's concoction, we have added fizzy water to it and that makes it a little more palatable.

[BeckyBoo]

...firstly, is it just me or does there seem to be tonnes of the stuff this year?

 

Second, have heard that you can freeze the flowers - I did this but when I used them they went brown very quickly. I've used them in one batch of champagne which is still bottled and doing it;s thing. So can you freeze the flowers or will I poison us all?

 

Third, the recipe for the champagne uses white wine vinegar, lemon, sugar water and elder - will it turn out to be alcoholic in the true sense of the word? Only my Mum is a muslim and doesn't drink so don't want to give her anything in error that she wouldn't want.

Also is it OK to give to kids? Last thing I want is intoxicated kids - in fact the only thing I can imagine that would be worse would be kids with hangovers

 

And lastly, it's supposed to be only four flower heads for champagne, does it taste awful if you add more does anyone know?

 

Thanks -

 

BeckyBoo

[missuscluck]

I have frozen a whole load of elderflowers. Seems like a wheelbarrow full of the stuff

 

I started a batch of cordial today with some frozen flowers straght from the freezer. Didnt thaw them or anything just chucked them in and they have gone brown too.

I was thinking the same. Hope it ok and we are not going to die from mouldy elderflower poisoning.

 

I wonderd how you get alcohol without yeast, but then I dont know anything about making alcohol only drinking it

[Jules.]

My mum is currently making her first ever batch of cordial form the Omlet recipe. She's on about day 3 .

So far the stuff stinks

[chickencam]

I thought that the flowers had a natural yeast on them that gives the fizz to the champagne and therefore a small alcohol content.

[Old Speckled Hen]

Elderflower Champagne will have an alcohol content of anywhere between 2 to 3.5 %, same as a fairly weak beer.

Cordial is just that, a flavoured sugar water, and is alcohol free.

You MUST pick flowers that are white rather than cream and that smell sweet. Pollinated flowers smell of cat's pee and will taint your final brew.

[Sunshine]

I have a question...

 

Can you freeze the cordial once its been made? I was thinking i could make loads and then just defrost it when we want it. The homemade cordial tastes so much nicer than the shop bought stuff.

[Chook n Boo Mum]

The homemade cordial tastes so much nicer than the shop bought stuff.

 

Doesn't it just, the shop bought stuff, even the good shop bought stuff is a very poor relation in comparison....in fact some of it I'm not certain has ever been near an elderflower

 

I was considering getting some icecube bags & filling them with some cordial, then we can take it out portion by portion! I don't have a big freezer & I think these may be a slightly more efficient use of the space than bottles.

 

Sha x

[Christian]

Sounds like a good idea Sha

 

Maybe that way it would stop OH drinking all mine. I only made 8 litres

[Chucky Mama]

I have frozen mine this year. I have a second batch on the go at the moment. I agree that it seems to be a bumper year this year. There was a shortage of citric acid around here and so had to order some off ebay. However, I went into a Asia Supermarket come Cash and Carry on Friday and they had bags amoungst the spices 69p for 100g.