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Re: Elder Recipe



On Sun, 16 Jun 1996 19:06:40 GMT, in alt.folklore.herbs
ba303@fim.uni-erlangen.de (Wagner-Pentz) wrote:

>I know that this is not a newsgroup for exchanging recipes.
>But as I am in search for a recipe for making champagne 
>out of elder flowers, I thought, I will give it a try here.
>So please don't feel offended.
>Since three years (so long we have been living in an old farmer's
>house with three elder bushes in the garden) I've been in search 
>for this recipe, as I know there is one.
>Does anyone of you remember it?

It's a German tradition (... my roots are there). So here's a translation from a
nice book on wild food (Wildpflanzen - Gerichte - mit Pfiff, Brigitte Karch,
Humboldt-Taschenbuchverlag Jacobi KG, 1986 - it's a good book, go get it):

3 l water, 4 lemons, 325 g sugar, 4-5 elderflower-thingies

Cut the lemons into thin slices, add to water, add sugar and washed flowers,
keep uncovered in a sunny window for 2-3 days.
Next stir well, pour through fine fabric, bottle. Close the bottles securely.
Store cool, else your bottles might explode. Drinkable after 6 weeks.

-----

Another German book (Der Kraeutergarten, Helga Fritzsche, Ulmer
Taschenbuchverlag, 1987 - also a good book, get this one too) lists an
alternative way to do it:

200 g flowers, 5 l water, 500 g sugar, 1/8 l vinegar, 2-3 lemons (untreated).

Wash flowers, slice lemons, put all ingredients into a large bucket, stir until
the sugar has dissolved. Keep in a warm place for 8 days, stir once per day.
Next pour through a fine sieve, bottle (please use champagne bottles). Store for
at least 14 days before drinking.

I haven't tried either of these (Sambucus nigra doesn't grow in Finland, or at
least not very well), but other recipes from both books have proven to be
excellent. So just try them out.

Henriette

--
Henriette Kress             HeK@hetta.pp.fi            Helsinki, Finland
http://sunsite.unc.edu/herbmed FTP: sunsite.unc.edu or sunsite.sut.ac.jp
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