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This year's Elderflower Cordial has been Pasteurised and safely bottled, thanks to my daughters efforts.

At the time I was too busy, brewing up a double batch of Elderflower Champagne, it always seems to go too quickly.

We had a blissful half term holiday, camping and cycling in France. We did not realise initially, but it was the week before the D Day 75th anniversary, and there was a great deal of preparation going on. 

We spent most of our time on our bikes; the French do know how to make perfect cycle paths and networks. We would cycle from one town to another, along peaceful, nature laden pathways, without a single car in sight.

On one of our cycle trips, we spotted a large patch of Wild (Alpine) Strawberries, so we called a short rest break. We proceeded to feast our faces on these delicate little juicy fruits, before setting off again, fully rejuvenated.

Elderflower Everywhere

You know that Summer is coming, when the Elderflowers begin to pop their snowy white heads up through the fresh green hedgerows. They add a delightfully subtle, citrusy aroma to city park and countryside walks.

My kids always get excited, planning for their cordial and can spot a suitable bunch of flower-heads at 100 yards. Although we will be harvesting together, this year, as normal, I will be leaving them to their own devices when it comes to making this.

The kids and I got on our bikes and whizzed up to the common for a reconnoitre, but the flowers were not yet open. We spotted some on the way home and planned to return to the common the next weekend, to get picking!

I will be needing to gather rather more than I normally do. I always make Elderflower Champagne, this however, only requires a few big flower-heads. This time around, I will be helping to make a new seasonal beer as well.

Following on from my successful collaboration with Jimmy Hatherley at Unity Brewing Co. The Spring ale, named Printemps, employed stinging nettles for their unique flavour, but this time around I will be collecting Elderflowers, towards a Summer Saison Beer.

This is Apple blossom.

An Elderflower Adventure

We had just returned from a trekking/camping holiday during half term (more on that expedition later) and the kids had been spotting Elderflowers.

They decided it was time to make some sweet, delicious, thirst quenching Elderflower Cordial. However, I was just thinking about making Elderflower Champagne.

Elderflowers are virtually everywhere in the parks and streets at the moment, so we thought it might be fun to go by boat, just for the hell of it.

At St. Deny's Sailing and Rowing Club on the river Itchen, we saw that a blackbird had nested in the lower eves of the clubhouse and was feeding two tiny fledglings.

We soon had life-jackets fitted and launched Tern, our favourite family sized rowing boat and even though both children can row, I was given the job of pulling on the oars.

We saw our first Elder straight away, just yards from the pontoon and we were soon filling our bag with fresh citrusy Elderflower heads.

Further upstream we found other bushes hanging over the river, or in amongst the reeds and I even set the kids ashore to harvest from one particularly busy tree they spotted. As I predicted, with two pickers and one rower we had soon gathered more than enough.

On the way home we bought 5 lemons and one Kilo of sugar, which was enough ingredients to make 3 litres of Elderflower Cordial and 6 litres of Elderflower Champagne.

All the rest was done by the kids in the kitchen and it didn't half look a mess when they had finished but, to be fair, they did tidy up when I explained that I would ferment the lot if they didn't get cleaning.

Beltain and a Blossom Walk

It looks like the Summer is finally getting a grip here in the south UK and everyone should soon be making Elderflower Cordial. I prefer Elderflower Champagne but you need to take a few elementary precautions.

I believe the warm weather may have been encouraged as a result of the recent Beltain celebrations at Butser Ancient Farm. Beltain is an ancient tradition to bring on the summer, to celebrate the drawing back of the night and lengthening of the days.

We often visit this wonderful place for this extraordinary event; there is always lots of interesting things to explore and do. The evening always culminates with the very dramatic burning of the colossal Wickerman.

This year  the 10m hight shape-shifting Wickerman took the form of a human body, with the head of a badger, and antlers sprouting out from behind its ears. You can write down your wishes on paper scraps and stuff them into his legs, to be burned and sent into the night sky as red hot sparks later in the evening.

It was a chilly day and we were prepared for rain (though it never came), you can always hide in a round house and sit by an open fire listening to stories, if you get too cold. My daughter and I kept warm by walking about all the various activities, drinking hot cocoa and by dancing to a band playing sea shanties.

Toward the end of the evening, as darkness fell, everyone was entranced by a team of rhythmic drummers marching out toward our towering statuesque bonfire, which was lit by a lucky young lad with a flaming torch.

While the flames licked ever upwards and our wishes joined the stars glimmering in the darkness, there was a constant chorus of ooh!s,  ah!s and cheers to supplement the drummers, who had now retreated to a safer distance, as various parts joined the conflagration or exploded after crashing to the ground.

Finally, we tramped back over the fields, tired and weary but still awed by a night of wonder, our path lit by the flaming torches we carried.

There will be a Blossom Walk on Saturday May 14th at the Mansbridge Community Orchard. We will meet at 04:00pm on the old stone bridge over the Itchen, regardless of the weather. The bridge is at the end of the Pitch and Putt course and near the White Swan pub/restaurant on the A27. 
The walk is free and volunteer led but you will be traversing rough ground and fields, so dress appropriately and everyone is responsible for their own health and safety.
If anyone wants to buy copies of my lovely book, let me know in advance and they will be available for the totally fantastic price of just £10.00.

Summertime Foraging Fun

Summer is finally establishing itself in Southampton. We went for a meandering walk with friends along the river beautiful Itchen. I was pleased to spot a nice looking apple tree by a car park in Shawford before we set off; I duly added this to the Falling Fruit map. The atmosphere was heady and the smell of Elderflowers hung heavily in the air.

The route took us up-river past Compton Lock, which is always a fabulous place for a fun swim. We used to cycle to this spot during teenage summer holidays. 

We passed under the M3 motorway and watched swooping swallows catching bugs under the bridge. Despite the wonderful countryside surrounding us, the kids seemed to enjoy being under the massive bridge and hung around here for some time. 

Then it was a short but extremely steep climb up the ancient hill fort of St Catherine’s with the sunshine hammering down from above. The view over Winchester and the water-meadows is truly spectacular. 

We saw several Walnut trees, some of which seem to have had the ends of the branches somehow damaged. People had been having fires on top of the hill amongst the beeches, which must be nice, but some idiots had been setting a fire in the bowl of one of the largest trees – It is difficult to believe the stupidity of this action.

I also noticed a couple of Juniper bushes clinging to the steep ramparts. I have seen Junipers at Figsbury, Danbury and Winchester Hill forts. We found Walnut trees at Badbury Rings as well as here. Walnut (and Apple) trees were introduced to Britain by the Romans and Juniper is thought to be the only native fir tree in the UK. These are curious connections, well worth wondering about.

After a picnic and a run around the mysterious Mismaze atop the hill, we set off back down the Itchen. After a sweltering ramble in the Summer sun, Compton Lock always seems an impossibly perfect place to cool your jets. Wild Swimming is all the rage now and the water is deep enough in places to invite leaping into the cold river for a frolic with the fishes.

The shock of the chilly water will certainly refresh you after a long hot walk but the children were soon shivering like leaves in the wind. We dried them off and set off for home, pausing only to grab a bag-full of Elderflower heads to create thirst quenching Cordial and Champagne on our return. 

We also spotted that cherries are ripening. At last, after all the stress of finishing the book, the free fruit foraging fun finally begins...

Elderflowers

It's that time of the year again. As Spring seamlessly segues into Summer, the Elder trees are brightening the hedges with their jaunty ivory white floral clouds. At the Urbane Forager project Elderflowers are the first thing we pick in the year. Elder is followed closely by Cherries and then Plums.

We use these citrusy blooms to produce thirst quenching cordial, a perennial favourite with the children and effervescent Champagne which definitely excites the adult pallet.

Both recipes are simple, as long as you pay sufficient attention to two important points.

• Firstly, the blooms of the Elder smell of bright summer sun in the morning but tend to smell a bit like cat's wee in the evening, so pick them in the morning and process them while still fresh!
• Secondly, when making fizzy drinks, always use pressure safe bottles! Sparking wine is safely surrounded by 1 Kilogram of glass for a very good reason. We save and sterilize Cava bottles from Christmas and birthday celebrations. We then buy fresh corks and cages to secure our own brew, even then I have to keep a close eye on the proceedings to prevent pressure-washing the kitchen with a Champagne fountain.
  

Elderflower Cordial - an easy to make summer classic.

• 3 lemons, sliced 
• 10 Elderflower heads 
• 500g sugar 
• 3L water 
• 1 Large bowl or saucepan
• Filter paper or muslin 

1. Put the sugar in the container and pour over a pint of boiling water. Stir until all the sugar has dissolved. 
2. Then add the remaining 2 litres of cold water and a leave until cold. 
3. Add the sliced lemons, giving each a good squeeze and then add the elderflower heads. 
4. Leave for 24 hours, stirring occasionally.
5. Pour through the muslin or filter paper into bottles.

Refrigerated it will keep for a few weeks. Frozen (in plastic bottles) it will last a lot longer.

Delicious Elderflower Champagne (English Fizz for pedants)

• 2 lemons, sliced
• 7 Large Elderflower heads
• 500g sugar
• 6L water
• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 1 Large container
• Filter paper or muslin (I use a sieve and jelly bag)

1. First fully dissolve the sugar in a pint of boiling water. 
2. Then pour the solution into your container and add 5 litres of cold water, followed by the lemon slices (squeezed as you go), Elderflower heads and vinegar.
3. Cover the mixture and leave for 48 hours, stirring occasionally. 
4. When ready, filter the mixture (I used a sieve, jelly bag & funnel) into strong bottles (plastic or glass, but able to withstand high pressure), close firmly, and leave.
5. It is a good idea to release some of the air occasionally to prevent explosions. 

The champagne will be ready in about two weeks. It is alleged to improve with time, but nobody has managed to leave it that long yet...

It's totally delicious!

Young Fruit and Elderflower

Cherries

I have been very busy during my lunch hour trips around Segensworth, and fortunately the weather has been welcoming. I have been keeping tabs on where the various fruit trees are located, tagging them as they blossomed on the Falling Fruit map. Here, you can see that I have surrounded the grim grey industrial estate with an abundance of fabulous fruit trees.

Plums

When you use this method during the Spring, you always need to revisit the sites to be sure that young fruits are following the flowers. It can be difficult to spot immature fruit initially, because it is camouflaged very effectively by the green leaves.

Apple Blossom

It's a little early yet to tell whether the army of Apple trees that I have spotted will eventually produce good fruit. many of them may turn out to be Crab Apples, which can also be used in many interesting ways.

Elder Flower

At the Urbane Forager, the first things we pick each year are Elder-flowers. We make cool Cordial and chaotic Champagne from these delicately scented ivory blooms.

Cherries

Elderflower drinks are soon followed by waves of sweet, dark Cherries, and then bucket loads of multi-coloured wild plums. Hopefully, Summer will be in full swing by this time. 

Plums

It always pays to be as well prepared and you can do this too by utilising our free Seasonal id Cheat Sheets. These handy aids have also been redesigned and included in the forthcoming Urbane Forager book.