Elderflower Champagne

Alcohol Free Elderflower Champagne Recipe

Elderflower ChampagneThere’s a lovely self set elderflower in my back garden which is covered in white flower heads and it would be a shame not to use them for some kind of brew. I’d already planned to make some alcoholic elderflower Champagne with some of them, but with a pregnant wife I thought I’d have a go at a non alcoholic version too so she has something to drink.

Elderflower champagne very much reminds me of my childhood; being poured an ice cold glass of fizzy, sweet champagne  by my nan and us kids gulping it down asking for more. Luckily my Grandad made vast quantities of it every year for us to enjoy (well the ones that didn’t explode anyway) and it’s his non alcoholic elderflower champagne recipe that I’m going to try out and see if it is as good as I remember. On to the recipe:

Non Alcoholic Elderflower Champagne

2 heads of Elderflower – remove the flowers from the green stalks

1 1/2 pounds (680g) White Sugar

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

1 gallon (4.55 Litres) cold water

1 lemon (juiced and rind cut up)

  1. Place flower heads in a bowl followed by the juice and rind of the lemon
  2. Add the sugar and vinegar and then pour the water over
  3. Stir to mix
  4. Leave for 24 hours and then bottle

Equipment you may need

  • Fermentation Bucket – Around £10
  • Syphon – Makes transferring to bottles easy
  • Star San – A great no rinse steriliser that’s easy to use and lasts ages
  • Bottles – loads of options for swing top bottles, make sure they are strong

Make sure you bottle these in either plastic soft drink bottles or glass bottles that can take some pressure, pop bottles (cola, fizzy water etc) and beer bottles should be fine. The natural yeast in the flower heads should turn some of the sugar into CO2 giving you a nice fizz. After a couple of weeks in a warm place your non alcoholic elderflower champagne should be ready to drink, just put in the fridge and enjoy on a sunny afternoon or evening in the garden.