Natural harvests

Hi, I'm Alex and this is my first blogging adventure. Ah the hungry blank page. What I'm about is encouraging people to get out into their gardens and local wild places and eat or drink it. I'm a qualified herbalist and long time hunter-gatherer. It's tremendous fun gathering plants from the wilderness and, with a few tips on safety, a great way to enjoy being outdoors with family and friends. So, here's my first recipe for elderflower champagne:

First, choose a sunny bright morning and pick the frothy flowers after the dew has dried.
Smell the heady scent and revel in early midsummer. Pick a few heads - say half a dozen - be sure to identify the plant correctly - see my website for details www.serenity-healing.co.uk and collect them in a wicker basket or cotton bag. Don't use plastic - they'll sweat and get nasty pretty quickly.
Once home, strip the pretty lacy flowers from their umbrella-like stem and put in a large basin. Add 2 tablespoons of white vinegar, a lemon cut into chunks, 1/2 to one kilo of sugar and a gallon of tepid water. You can add champagne yeast for extra fizz but generally in one week, maybe two, the natural yeasts will bubble on their own. Then you can bottle it in old-fashioned pulldown clasping bottles and chill til you want to drink them.
Fantastic al fresco with a picnic.

The taste of summer incarnate..........