Elderflower Wine

568 ml (1 pint) of elderflower florets. Pick on a sunny day when the scent is at it's headiest.
1.36 kg (3lb) of sugar. Granulated.
30gms (1 oz ) of dried yeast. Champagne yeast is good for this one.
4.546 litres (1 gallon) of boiling water.
1 lemon.
25 gms (½ oz ) root ginger. Bruised.  (This is an optional ingredient)

Remove florets from stalks and measure 1 pint pressed down in a pint jug. Place florets, thinly peeled rind and juice of one lemon together with the sugar and bruised ginger into your white plastic bucket and pour on one gallon of boiling water. Cover and allow to stand for 5 days stirring once each day.
At the end of five days strain off the liquid and pour into a clear demijohn. Add the yeast, insert airlock into the neck of the demijohn and allow to ferment to a finish. The fermentation process has finished when there is no activity in the demijohn and a sediment has formed at the bottom of the liquid.
Syphon off the liquid, using your wine filter, into another demijohn. Plug the neck with a plain bung and leave for at least 3 months. After three months pour into clear wine bottles and cork. This wine can be drunk straight after bottling or it can be stored.
I usually make this wine when the elderflowers are on  the trees and bottle it at the same time the following year. You may like to try  bottling in November and drinking at Christmas.



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