So today was the day I finally bottled my elderflower cider. Inital tasting is good but not as great as last years but I will let it chill and settle a bit before final judgement. 6% at a total cost of £1.45 / litre I'm still not going to complain when its easing the heat of the India summer we are going to have.

While I was at it I finally decided what to do with the elderflowers that I got earlier this year and also all the elderberries I have.

First one up was the elderflowers, wine this year after the mess of the champagne and, as I wanted to keep the berries, the flowers were purchased, so here we go - 50g dried elderflowers (£2.08) - 4 Teaspoons Citric Acid (£0.23) - 4 Teaspoons Tannin (£0.30) - 4 Teaspoons Yeast Nutrient (£0.20) - 4 Kgs Sugar (£2.76)</li><li>Teaspoon of yeast (I used an old sachet of Gervin wine yeast No3 so not sure it will even work yet let alone how much it costs)

Boil enough water to dissolve the sugar and then add the elderflowers. Pour into a big bucket and then top up to 4 gallons. Check temperature is under 35C and add all the other ingredients.

Stir everyday for 7 days, stop the flowers going mouldy.

Then wait until fermentation stops, it clears and the flowers sink then bottle.

So no idea what this will end up like but we can do nothing but try.

Finally elderberry wine - Fresh Elderberries 3 kgs (free from the tree :)) - 3Kgs Sugar 1 (£2.07 this should make a sweet wine) - 2 Teaspoon Citric Acid (£0.13) - 2 Teaspoon Yeast ( only have one sachet of Gervin No 1 so that will have to do, just means a slower start £0.84) - 2 Yeast nutrient (£0.10)

Strip off and crush berries into a bucket, add in the sugar and 6 pints of boiling water. Once cool add all the rest, cover and leave for approx 5 days. Strain off the liquid into 2 demijohns with equal amount of liquid in each, top up each demijohn and leave for four to six weeks, check on the hydrometer that fermentation has stopped.

Rack into new demijohns and allow to clear for a month, then bottle. Wine should be left for at least 3 months but can be left even longer