• 30 elderflower sprays
• 2 lemons, sliced
• 2oz citric acid
• 4lb sugar
• 2¼ pint of water
• Saucepan
• Funnel
• Bottle with cork

METHOD

1. Use open elderflower heads picked from a tree well away from the road so that the flowers are free from dust and pollution. Pick over the elderflowers and set them aside.
2. Put all the ingredients in a pan, cover with the cloth and stand for a fortnight, stirring every day.
3. Pour the sweetened liquid into a clean bottle until it is filled to the top.
4. Keep any surplus in a bottle for topping up the water receptacle during fermentation.
5. Stand the bottle on a tray in a warm room. Fermentation soon begins and froth will pour out over the side of the bottle. Fill up again from the surplus bottle until a froth no longer forms.
6. Insert a cork into the bottler, loosely at first, but when the fermentation is over and no bubbles of gas are seen, then cork tightly.
7. If you want a really clear wine it should be racked from time to time, i.e. pour the clear wine from the old bottles, into clean ones, keeping the yeast deposit to re-clear in the old bottles.
8. The wine should be kept for six months without sampling.