Mike Lyle wrote:
:: Phil L wrote:
::: Sacha wrote:
::::: In the very faint hope that we actually get some sun before the
::::: Longest Day is upon us and it's all downhill towards Christmas,
::::: I'm passing on a delicious recipe a friend gave me last year:
:::::
::::: 90 heads of Elder flower, picked at mid-day
:::::
::::: 6 sliced lemons
:::::
::::: 9lbs. Preserving sugar (Caster will do but Preserving is better)
:::::
::::: 7.5 oz. Citric or Tartaric acid
:::::
::::: Put all the ingredients into a large bowl or clean plastic
::::: bucket. Add 7.5 pints boiling water.
:::::
::::: Stir night and day for 5 days. Strain, squeezing the lemons.
::::: Put into plastic bottles and deep freeze. Take out only when
::::: wanted, and refrigerate as it won¹t keep out of the freezer for
::::: more than 5 to 7 days.
:::::
::::: Dilute with water to taste.
:::::
::::: This makes a very refreshing drink in hot weater.
:::::
::::: Undiluted, it¹s also good on gooseberries or over fruit salad.
:::
::: If you add a spoonfull of yeast it will also make a decent wine!
::: (if you take away 7lbs of the sugar!)
::
:: Are you KIDDING? 90, read "ninety", like dude you mean, XC, figures
:: nine-uh zero I say again nine-uh zero, naw deg, neunzig,
:: quatre-vingts-dix, novanta, heads of elderflowers for two gallons
:: of wine? That will smell like three years' worth of cat pee soaked
:: into the carpet. About a pint of stripped elderflowers will
:: flavour and aromatise a gallon of strong sweet white wine for
:: dessert use enough to blow your socks off; I'd use max two heads
:: for a gallon of ordinary grape, whitecurrant, or gooseberry wine,
:: and I wouldn't leave them in very long, either. You don't apply
:: the flowers till _after_ the primary fermentation, whose bubbling
:: would blow away most of the aroma: pop them in there in a nylon
:: stocking with a handful of sterilized marbles (I know mine are.)
::
:: And modern preserving sugar is, indeed, inadvisable: the stuff
:: contains not so much citric acid as, if me soaked old grey cells do
:: not deceive me, pectin -- a sore destroyer of your wine's clarity,
:: and general irrelevancy to the domestic booze process. Use plain
:: old granulated cheapest: it's pure unwholesome C6H22O11 or
:: something. Check out my surname: we know this kind of shit in our
:: family..
::
:: --
:: Mike.



--
If God had intended us to drink beer, He would have given us stomachs.

Phil L wrote:
:: Mike Lyle wrote:
:::::
::::: If you add a spoonfull of yeast it will also make a decent wine!
::::: (if you take away 7lbs of the sugar!)
::::
:::: Are you KIDDING? 90, read "ninety", like dude you mean, XC,
:::: figures nine-uh zero I say again nine-uh zero, naw deg, neunzig,
:::: quatre-vingts-dix, novanta, heads of elderflowers for two gallons
:::: of wine? That will smell like three years' worth of cat pee
:::: soaked into the carpet. About a pint of stripped elderflowers
:::: will flavour and aromatise a gallon of strong sweet white wine
:::: for dessert use enough to blow your socks off; I'd use max two

When you say stripped, how do you get to use *just* the tiny white petals?

I've only ever made it once and it was many moons ago, IIRC the recipe book
said to freeze the heads in a poly bag overnight and then shake the petals
off the following day, you're not using the little stalks too are you? - I'm
sure I ended up with about a pint from a carrier bag full, but white petals
only - no greenery!

:::: heads for a gallon of ordinary grape, whitecurrant, or
:::: gooseberry wine, and I wouldn't leave them in very long, either.
:::: You don't apply the flowers till _after_ the primary
:::: fermentation, whose bubbling would blow away most of the aroma:
:::: pop them in there in a nylon stocking with a handful of
:::: sterilized marbles (I know mine are.)
::::
And your stockings?

:::: And modern preserving sugar is, indeed, inadvisable: the stuff
:::: contains not so much citric acid as, if me soaked old grey cells
:::: do not deceive me, pectin -- a sore destroyer of your wine's
:::: clarity, and general irrelevancy to the domestic booze process.

It's good for jam though, pectin helps the setting of preserves, making it
next to useless for brewing.

:::: Use plain old granulated cheapest: it's pure unwholesome
:::: C6H22O11 or something. Check out my surname: we know this kind
:::: of shit in our family..

....Hmmm!
My mate's last name is Armstrong but he hasn't been to the moon.

:-p

--
If God had intended us to drink beer, He would have given us stomachs.

The message
from "Phil L" contains these words:

:::: Use plain old granulated cheapest: it's pure unwholesome
:::: C6H22O11 or something. Check out my surname: we know this kind
:::: of shit in our family..

....Hmmm!
My mate's last name is Armstrong but he hasn't been to the moon.

:-p

Why not? :-d

--
Rusty
Open the creaking gate to make a horrid.squeak, then lower the foobar.
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

Jaques d'Alltrades wrote:
The message
from "Phil L" contains these words:

Use plain old granulated cheapest: it's pure unwholesome
C6H22O11 or something. Check out my surname: we know this kind
of shit in our family..

....Hmmm!
My mate's last name is Armstrong but he hasn't been to the moon.

:-p

Why not? :-d

Some people just go to Kathmandu or Bognor every damn year: no sense
of adventure.

--
Mike.