I hate to mess with so venerable a format as that of "Desert Island Discs" but I think that, along with the luxury and the book, it would be rather nice to take a favourite plant. Like everyone else I keep my list of eight records permanently up to date just in case I get asked (there's probably more chance this way) and if I were allowed a plant, I'd take the elder. The bright creamy sprays that adorn every roadside evoke the English summer like nothing else and their smell is a heady co*cktail of passion and innocence.
It is fitting that I write this on 1 June. Despite the very early appearance of this year's blossoms I always consider the first day of summer to be the start of the season. The blossoms normally continue until the middle of July, gradually becoming harder to find as they transform themselves into that other hedgerow treat – the elderberry.
The elder is a roadside tree rather than a denizen of the hedgerow. Farmers will often grub out an elder from the hedge as its brittle stem and lack of spines make it a poor choice for stock-proofing. However the elder is also an opportunist and will colonize any disturbed corner of ground, both out of town and in. Elderflowers are for everybody. Yet they still seem to be a seriously under-used resource. Why the supermarkets do not sell elderflower sorbet, elderflower yoghurt or elderflower Chewits I cannot understand.
Sparkling elderflower wine however (or "elderflower champagne" if you do not mind invoking the wrath of our neighbours) has rightly become fashionable and is readily available commercially – the one supplied by my good friends at Polgoon near Penzance is particularly excellent - but there is nothing quite like making your own. Now urban and suburban elder trees are fought over by jealous homebrewers and the results served at many a summer barbecue.
The elder is a very easy plant to identify with a little care. I have known people collect blossoms from the wayfaring tree, rowan and even hogweed by mistake, but that is just carelessness. Take a look at the photograph here if you are unsure, but if it smells of elderflowers then that is what it is.
Choose those that have fully opened and still have cream coloured florets and pick on a sunny morning if possible. They break away easily from the fork between two leaves and you can collect a huge number in just a few minutes. Elderflowers do not thrive in captivity so get to work as soon as you arrive home. This recipe, you will be pleased to hear, is fairly safe, but it does need an extra bit of "kit" – a hydrometer.
20 elderflower heads (This is more than in most recipes, so reduce if you find elderflowers a little overpowering)
900g sugar
150ml white grape juice concentrate
3 lemons, washed
Champagne yeast (follow the instructions on the packet)
Yeast nutrient (follow the instructions on the packet)
4.5 litres of boiled water cooled to room temperature
You only need the florets themselves (too much stalk can add an unwanted bitterness to the brew). Remove them with a fork. "Forking off" as we call it.
Put them in a sterilised bucket and thoroughly mix in the sugar. Leave for about three hours to extract the flavour. Add the water and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Add the grape concentrate, yeast and yeast nutrient. Halve and squeeze the lemons, then throw in the peel as well. Stir.
Cover the bucket and leave for up to a week, stirring occasionally for the first three or four days. Siphon into a sterilised demi-john and add a bubble-trap. The liquor will still be sweet and has quite a bit of fermenting to go. The bubbles in the trap will appear at about one per second.
This will slow down after one or two weeks and this is the time to test your brew with your "hydrometer". It measures the specific gravity of the liquor, which in turn gives a good indication of the amount of sugar remaining. Remove the bubble-trap and carefully drop in a sterilised hydrometer. It should read "1010". If not, then replace the trap and leave your brew a bit longer.
Once the magic number has been achieved, siphon off into champagne-style bottles, fit new corks (plastic "corks" are the easiest) and a little wire cage to prevent accidents.
Sparkling elderflower wine has been the source of much joy but also much pain. It suffers more than most wines from the several calamities that can befall the wine-maker. Chief among these, certainly the most dangerous, is exploding bottles. This is caused by bottling before the speed of fermentation has slowed to a sufficiently sedate pace. There are many colourful reports of people's experiences in this area, my favourite being a tale of a shed in which all but two bottles had detonated messily. Fearful of approaching too closely, the hapless brewer "took them out" with an air rifle from a safe distance.
If you can't be bothered with this level of authenticity just use those fizzy drinks bottles that are shaped like torpedoes. Glass, swing-top lemonade bottles are not really man enough for the job.
Leave for several weeks to allow the fermentation to add fizz to the wine. A sediment will form at the bottom of the bottles. This is normal and commercial producers of sparkling wines go to great and complex lengths to remove it. At home it is easiest to cool the bottle in the fridge then decant carefully into a chilled jug just before serving.
