Jane has been a hive of activity of late, rooting through hedgerows, plucking from trees, gathering vast quantities of wonder nettles and generally turning the Beach House Kitchen into a herbal/ potion dry/ infusing nirvana. We have our very own herbal den on our hands and our new dehydrator is coming in very useful, we’re stocking up for the depths of winter with the sun on our backs.
We have been blessed with some good weather of late (although not when we climbed Snowdon the other day, see below) and all things green and multi-coloured are leaping from the ground and heading towards the sun. Its a wonderful thing to witness and our courgettes and beetroot especially are loving these conditions. Summer has hit, Im driving around with the car window open and have even been seen wearing a T-shirt outdoors on a nuber of occasions.
This recipe tastes like summer, the smell of the elder tree is something that evokes memories of me being a little nipper, running around fields and falling over alot. Our fridge is full of the stuff in all forms of receptical,old gin bottles, wine bottles, large gherkin jars, we’re brimming over with herbal champagne and very chuffed indeed.
The has taken our focus back towards nature and the more we learn about the properties of the herbs and flowers that fills the hills and valleys of the area, the more we realise what we have been missing all along. Jane has some incredible books and nature has provided so much richness and diversity that we were ignorant to until recently. The flowers are good now, but leave a few until autumn and the wonderful elderberries will arrive, apparently these little beauts can beat the flu! In old folklore the elderberries signified the end of summer and the preparations for autumn and winter.
If you have an elder flower tree locally, or see one when driving around, we strongly urge liberating a few heads for the pot. Don’t forget to thank the tree!
The Bits
12 elderflower heads, 1 unwaxed lemon (juice and zest), 0.7kg sugar, 2 tbs white wine vinegar, 4 litres cold water.
Do It
Pop the sugar and water in a large pan, stir until dissolved, shake the elderflower heads (check there are no insects). Wash them in cold water. Add to the pan.
Add lemon juice and zest and leave covered for 24 hours.
Thats it!
Strain through muslin and keep in sterilised bottles. Wine or champagne bottles look very cool. Can be kept in the fridge for one week.
We doubled this recipe and it worked a treat.
Serve
In champagne flutes, in the sun, feet up, without a care in the world…..
We Love It!
Its as good as champagne and free! What a gift from nature!!!!
Foodie Fact
Elder flowers contain a whole host of natural flu beaters.
beach house kitchen 
Love it! Simply yet elegant 😉
Cheers to you Yolanda!
We made sloe vodka (Steve doesn’t like gin) and my mum used to make rhubarb “champagne”. Lovely and as soon as I isolate an elderberry shrub (that isn’t flaunting itself halfway down a cliff 😦 ) I am going to make this!
We tried out blackberry whiskey, which was awesome, but the sloes around here are quite special, the elderflowers too. We’re leaving a few untouched and waiting for those lovely berries to come around. Take care and keep cosy, lee and janex
We went hunting in the hedgerows for sloes and found a lot. There are even whispers about damsons…that blackberry whiskey sounds amazing! I am a whiskey girl (Steve prefers Vodka) so my ears are up for that one! Cheers for sharing with us and giving us some amazing ideas for our coming spring 🙂 We should be (like the philosophers song from Monty Python) “permenantly pissed” come summer 😉
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