Elderberry winemaking

It's my favourite time of the year - elderberry time. There is nothing more delicious than the smell of elderberries boiling and all the merriement that heralds. Today I slogged through deep mud to find the meagre pickings of elderberries that are found on Gower. It is not elderberry territory. And yet I love it and I love elderberry wine too. I was famous for it when I lived in the rich soil of Wiltshire. Here the Atlantic saltwinds prevent the flowers from setting fruit - so we're okay for elderflower wine but the berries do take some finding. However I would encourage everyone who has access to an elderberry bush to make some of this nectar.

Here's the recipe:

In old money -

4 lbs of elderberries, stripped from their stalks (takes time -use music and contemplation)
3 - 4 lbs of sugar (bog standard but I'm using soft brown organic this time) depending on ripeness and sweetness of the fruit - taste it
wine yeast (according to label instructions)
1 gallon of good water (not so daft as it sounds London water is crap and will ruin your wine)

Put the stripped berries in the water and boil for 10 minutes - this is bulky and you'll probably need a preserving pan for the volume

Pour into a fermenting bucket (sterilised)
Add yeast when lukewarm.

Leave for saliva inducing week as you smell the fermenting must and stir once a day if you remember. Decant into a sterilised demi-john with a bubble cork and put in the airing cupboard for at least 6 weeks or in my case until xmas when I suddenly have a passion for it. Rack off into another clean demijohn until no sediment appears in the bottom - prob about March and then decant into sterilised bottles. Try and save it until the following Xmas but you probably won't make it. I never do.

This year I couldn't get 4 lbs of fruit (which leads to a rich and porty wine) so I've made do with 2 lbs and added 3 black peppercorns for spice, ginger (a thumbsized piece) for warmth and a chopped lemon for extra Vit C. I 'll let you know if it works. You could also try a stick of cinnamon, a few cloves, star anise - any of the usual flavours for spiced wine.

IN the meantime, I shall harvest more and make a conventional gallon.

For the unitiated not only is this wine truly and utterly blissful on the palate but it is extremely good for you, being rich in vitamin C, and anti-viral. It is a heavenly flu, cold and misery remedy for winter and is a general standby in times of frugality, famine, illness and boredom. I rely on it to get me through til I can pick its sister, the elder flower which makes a champion champagne.

Elderflower is the queen of wines and Elderberry the king. Enjoy.

just a little postscript to a salvaged day. MMMmm cooked a risotto on the gas ring in the garden. It was too hot to shop so made it up from garden and freezer. Started with sizzled scallops and parsley, lemon and seasalt. Then cooked red onion, garlic in olive oil, with some home-made coriander margarine, added half a butternut squash and fried the rice. Sluiced in some white wine left by debauched daughter and not worth drinking, when that had evaporated, added a knorr stockcube and some hot water from kettle. Then in went some haddock from frozen, and ten minutes of simmering later finished it with some frozen king prawns, rocket and pea shoots from garden, freshly shelled peas, black pepper, manchego cheese and a generous swirl of soya cream. You will note - no cow's dairy produce - reason: a) am strongly allergic b) bull calves are killed for it. Goats and sheep produce milk for far longer - 3 yrs for goats (not sure about sheep) so far less young are sacrificed in its production. And of course soya (which is a lot nicer than it sounds) kills no-one (as far as I know) and I make sure it's not of the GM variety (before you question my sanctity). With a sunlit evening we were well into relaxing but the midges soon put paid to that so hello computer.......and (sigh) capsule making.

Thursday, 4th June. European elections day. Beautifully sunny and warm again too, though not as hot as the last few days, thankfully. I work in a conservatory and have virtually fried. Ideal weather though for picking herbs. The chemicals are concentrated by the sunshine and process of photosynthesis and damp rain clinging to the leaves and flowers are the worst thing for tinctures going off. So, despite frustrations of technology and websites, I found refuge in picking lemon balm and hawthorn from my garden in the early summer sun.

Lemon balm looks very much like mint but has a much more lemony scent when crushed. It is an excellent anti-viral and harvesting some now is judicious and wise before swine flu takes hold, as seems inevitable later in the year, when the glorious summer will be a fond memory.

Hawthorn leaves, berries and flowers oxygenate heart muscle, helping the heart to beat more efficiently, boosting energy levels. The flowers were better a couple of weeks ago but the growing tips provide a lovely, goodness laden alternative. The other name for hawthorn is Mayblossom and that is the ideal month to gather the aromatic, some would say smelly, flowers.

Certainly my heart was soothed and my soul received balm as I handled the beautiful plants and smelt their aromas as I chopped and preserved them. Thanks Mother Nature!

Now for a more civic duty...........I'm thinking green!

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..........