Sambucus Nigra COCKTAIL and Elderflower Champagne

Guest Author, dear friend and wild daughter Stav B presents ~

Elderflowers are abundant and in season around late May to mid June in London’s green spaces, where I live. I love fermented foods and drinks and I decided to make a wild twist on a Daiquiri today, which is a beautiful Latino classic with a playful and experimental idea based on nature’s gifts and my intuitive love for seasons and creating my own libations from scratch. All the flavours work so well together. They are subtle, gentle and easy on the palette and very moorish and delicious. 

This drink makes a great brunch refresher paired with a pastry, aperitif, early in the afternoon, or even an accompaniment with a fruity dessert like Wild Daughter's Peachy Wild Galette. 

The following drink is called ‘Sambucus Nigra’ (aka elderberry) and can be made with any other seasonal flowers or fruits honouring season’s harvest.  

To you, to us!

Stav B. June 2020 

INGREDIENTS

50ml dark (not heavy, not sweet) rum 

25 ml lemon juice 

25 ml homemade elderflower cordial 

15 ml sugar syrup 

A homemade elderflower champagne top 

METHOD

  • In a shaker, add all the ingredients and then add ice

  • Double strain the liquid into a stem glass/ flute glass and top the libation with the champagne

  • Garnish with a lemon peel and a couple of blueberries. Serve it with a chaser of elderflower champagne and bottle and refrigerate any leftovers for later!

ELDERFLOWER CORDIAL

15 elderflower heads/ large, or 30 if small 

2 lemons/ sliced 

1/4 cup citric acid

2.5 litres water

5 cups sugar

METHOD

  • Shake the heads for dirt and little insects, they need to be white and fluffy – no washing!

  • Add elderflowers, lemon slices and citric acid to the water in a big pan

  • Heat up to boiling point, stirring occasionally, remove from heat, cover and let infuse overnight for about 12 hours

  • Strain the liquid through a muslin cloth, to catch all the flowers

  • Return liquid to the pan and add the sugar

  • Bring to boil again, stirring frequently to dissolve all the sugar, simmer for 5 minutes

  • Bottle up the finished cordial while it’s still boiling hot in sterilized bottles

  • When cool, keep refrigerated and enjoy in this cocktail or with some cold soda water

ELDERFLOWER CHAMPAGNE

7 to 8 large elderflowers heads/ 14 or 16 if smaller

2 pints boiling hot water/ filtered

6 pints cold water/ filtered

680gr sugar

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

METHOD

  • This is a naturally fermented drink, so you’ll need all the natural yeasts and beautiful flavours for the heads; Do not wash the elderflower before using, just shake them to get rid of any brown bits, insects, dust. Also, remove the very thick stalks

  • In a big pan, put the sugar and boiling water in and stir till the sugar is dissolved

  • Then add the cold water

  • Then the vinegar and the flowers

  • Cover the pan with a lead or a tea towel and leave to ferment for 7 days

  • Everyday give it a little stir, then cover again

  • By the end of the week you will see bubbles formed at the edges and froth on top of the flowers

  • Strain, with a fine non metallic mesh, the liquid into clean soda type bottles

  • Leave them at room temperature, burping them/ opening them, carefully once a day, so they won’t explode. Do that for 7 days

  • After the seven days, transfer them to the fridge, burping them once a day, for another 7 days

    Enjoy. xx

 
Stav B.jpg

Guest Author Stav B ~ an artist, creative and pop up bar owner, living and working in London, UK.

I believe that Life is Art and Art is Life, so I tend to apply this in everything that I do. My cocktails derive from that objective: starting from scratch and building my libation from the base up; distilling the spirit, boiling the syrup, fermenting the plant, the flower. There is always a story behind every drink, an inspiration, a mad idea, which more often than not, ends up in a glass

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