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Instructions and recipe for sweet and citrusy elderflower champagne. Includes tips on foraging for elderflowers, and how to transform them into one of the best wild-foraged drink recipes that you’ll ever try!
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Making elderflower champagne is a lot easier than you’d imagine. All you need are freshly picked elderflowers (or dried ones in a pinch), champagne yeast, and a few other ingredients. Once this recipe is finished fermenting, you’ll have about six bottles of citrusy and floral elderflower champagne. It’s best served chilled and accompanied by summer sunshine.
If you’ve not tried elderflower champagne before, you’re in for a real treat. It’s sweet like a dessert wine with a refreshing lemonade-like taste. Once you’ve made it the first time, I guarantee that it will become an annual wild food foraging tradition.
Foraging and Picking Elderflowers
Elderflowers bloom from late spring to early summer in temperate climates. They’re so sweet-smelling that you can’t mistake them for anything else, even rowan flowers that look similar. That scent is what gives Elderflower cordial and Elderflower Champagne its delicious aroma.
You’ll find elderflowers blooming a little earlier in warmer areas though and I once came across some in mid-April on a trip to Italy. Elder trees grow in semi-sun and you’ll most often find them at the edges of woodland or the road! Pluck entire umbels shortly before you plan on making this recipe and make sure that any insects have escaped before starting. The best way to do this is to set the flowers outside for an hour or two.
When foraging for elderflowers, make sure to leave enough to form berries later in the summer. My rule is to take what I need from several trees rather than stripping any one of the flowers. You really don’t need many elderflowers to make elderflower champagne or any elderflower recipe. They pack a flavor punch!
More Elderflower Inspiration
- Elderflower Cordial Recipe
- Natural Elderflower Soap Recipe
Elderflower Champagne Recipe
- 10-20 Elderflower heads
- 900g / 4.5 cups of Sugar
- 1 liter / 4.25 cups White Grape Juice
- 3 Lemons, washed
- Sachet of Champagne Yeast (1 tsp) – don’t use bread yeast for this recipe
- Yeast Nutrient
- 3.75 liters / 15 cups Boiled water, allowed to cool to room temperature.
1. Using a fork, remove all the elderflowers from the stalks and mix in a bowl with the sugar. Leave them for 2-3 hours and mash the mixture up with the fork as you mix, every 20 minutes or so. What you’re doing here is infusing the sugar with the Elderflower fragrance and flavor.
2. After 2-3 hours, add the water and stir until the sugar has fully dissolved. Then add the white grape juice, yeast, and yeast nutrient.
3. Halve the lemons and squeeze the juice into the bowl – then toss the lemon halves in as well. 4. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and leave for 5 days, stirring occasionally. It starts fermenting at this time and if you add it to the demi-john too early it can create a mess.
5. After the 5 days, siphon into a sterilized demi-john (carboy) and fit an airlock to it. Leave the mixture to ferment for about 1-2 weeks or until the bubbles in the airlock slow down to a standstill. You should keep the champagne in a room with the temperature recommended on the yeast packet.
6. Siphon into sterilized plastic drinks bottles after specific gravity 1010 is reached (use a hydrometer) and leave for a few weeks to ferment further. This further fermentation is what will give it its fizz! This is also why it’s safer to use plastic drink bottles because glass bottles, though lovely to look at, can explode if you’re not careful.
7. Serve the Elderflower Champagne chilled and enjoy the taste of summer
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Just ordered all of my supplies as my wild elderflowers are about to explode! Do you have a hydrometer and plastic bottles that you reccomend?
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No particular brands, really. They’re all fairly standard and do the job :)
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Thank you so much for all of the inspirational content that you post!
How long does the champagne last? How should I store it?Reply
Hi Kristin, and thanks :) You should aim to drink the champagne within six weeks since after that time the flavor will change. It may become more alcoholic, drier, and less palatable. There will also be build-up of gases inside the bottle over that time and it’s a good idea to ‘burp’ the bottles to release the pressure.
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Hi Tanya,
I’ve started the recipe but the yeast nutrient hasn’t arrived yet. Should I wait till it arrives, or can I add it later? I’ve mixed the sugar and elderflowers so far. Thanks, Jo xx
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Just continue with your recipe — the yeast nutrient is optional but helps create a healthy yeast colony.
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Hi need help Iv follows instructions but after putting into jar with air lock tops Iv had no bubbles and it’s been almost 2 weeks
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Hello Tanya,
Section 6 says leave until 1010 is reached. What does that mean.Thanks Tania
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Hi there! The 1010 is referring to the measurement on your hydrometer. It measures the specific density of your liquid and in this case, how much alcohol is in the elderflower champagne.
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Looks like a recipe to try. Our elder bushes are doing pretty well; growing and spreading. I'm hoping for a whole hedge eventually!
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An Elder hedge…love the idea!
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That sounds really good Tanya! I've been making kefir, fermented vegetables, and kombucha for the last several months. Wine might be next. I'm really interested in trying my hand at making mead, and your elderflower champagne sounds really good too.
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Nice to have you over at Sall's Country Life. We've always wanted to try wine making! May have to try your rhubarb recipe as elderflower is not grown around here. Anxious to tap into more of your blog, I think there will lots of things here I enjoy!
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Great post, and a nice recipe :)
I loved watching the TT when I lived on Man – the whole atmosphere on the Island was great.
Enjoy your champers, MoReply
Will do :)
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