snelson.org.uk/john

I've just started off some apple wine, using apples from the tree in our garden. It's currently bubling away happily in our dining room.

The recipe was modified slightly from the original, since we have a juicer. In all, I made almost a gallon of apple juice. I added 3.5kg of sugar to the juice, and topped it up to 3 gallons with filtered water.

This gave me a specific gravity of 1110, which is really too high for what I want. If it ferments fully it should give me a 17% wine, which risks being a bit sweet - I was hoping for a dry wine at about 14%.

Sally and I have just made some elderflower cordial with the first of the elderflowers to come out here. We made a batch last year, but it was gone in under a month so this time we've made a triple batch - for starters.

Ingredients

• 2kg Sugar (fairtrade, or course)
• 2 pints Water
• 20 Elderflower Heads
• 80g Citric Acid
• 2 Lemons

Bring the water to the boil, and add the sugar to it. Stir until it is fully disolved.

Grate the lemon rind, and slice the lemons. Add the lemons, rind and citric acid to the sugar solution.

Shake the elderflower heads, to get rid of insects, and place them in a large bowl or sterile bucket. Since we are expecting a baby, Sally and I went to mothercare and bought a nappy bucket to do this with. Next year, I think we won't be using the same bucket...

Pour the sugar solution and lemons over the elderflowers. Cover and leave to steep. We left ours for a week, although you could leave it less time if you needed.

Seive the cordial, to remove solids, then strain through muslin cloth or a coffee filter to clarify. Bottle in sterile bottles.

Dilute in ice cold water for an authentic english taste of the summer. A lot of this batch is going to be served at my Mum's wedding this summer.