Elderflower Champagne – The Rules

After my initial bacterial disaster, my new batch of Elderflower Champagne is like a force of nature; it is the perfect drink for an English summer heat-wave. Personally, I think that if it opens with a big bang, a lost cork and a 2 metre frothy fountain, leaving only half-a-glass-worth to drink at the bottom of the bottle; then it is probably ready!

I had to unload several bottles into a bucket in the back garden, just to stop them making a dangerous mess. My neighbour Sue helped me with this procedure and both of us got a little bit wet in the process. In fact, I hear that her kitchen got a little bit wetter later on, when she cracked a bottle open at home. Flip top bottles can make easing the pressure easier but the potential for mistakes becomes greater due to their slippery and fiddly nature.

Important rules for Urbane Forager Explosive Elderflower Champagne.

• The first rule of Urbane Forager Explosive Elderflower Champagne is that Urbane Forager Explosive Elderflower Champagne does not exist.
• The second rule of Urbane Forager Explosive Elderflower Champagne is that we never openly discuss Urbane Forager Explosive Elderflower Champagne.
• The third rule of Urbane Forager Explosive Elderflower Champagne… open it outside, unless you want your house decorated with Urbane Forager Explosive Elderflower Champagne.
• Rule 4. Pressure safe bottles!
• Rule 5. Ease the pressure regularly!

We are still getting many a sandwich box full of Hedge End cherries safely delivered home, from work in my bike pannier. I just pop out at lunchtime and pick a fresh load each day and they are avidly consumed by our hungry children. You would think they had been starved by the way they gobble them down.

Blackberries are just about to be ready; my daughter grabbed her first black one yesterday and it looks like they will be more than abundant this year. Plums are slowly ripening on the branches but they seem to have not fared so well, due to the late spring. Hazelnuts are looking bountiful this summer too. I have seen vast amounts weighing the branches down near me; I think they may be early this year too.