Edit 2018: I notice that I have some pretty adventurous time suggestions in this recipe. Over the years we settled for the following:
– After 24 hours we take out the lemons, squeezing them a bit to release most of the juice
– In total we leave it soaking for 48 hours
– After 2 – 3 days in the sun, we move the bottles into the fridge or into the cool cellar
– We start to consume the lemonade as soon as we bottle it, with time it will get more carbonation
’tis the season! or well, it’s almost over. elder trees are blooming and this means it’s time to make my favorite drink. ever! nothing!!! compares.
here’s how to make it:
4 liters of water
0.1 liter vinegar (we use apple vinegar)
700 g. white sugar
1 lemon in slices
15 elderflower stems
remove the stems from the elder flowers. (try to pick only the flowers off the stems, with very ripe flowers just shaking them off might work; the better you manage the more delicious the lemonade)
mix all the ingredients in a big bowl (it’s a good idea to dissolve the sugar in the water first).
place the bowl in a sunny spot, cover and let it do the magic for 24 – 72 hours (some recipes call for 6 – 7 days in the sun, i have not dared to leave it out that long yet. it gets more and more alcoholic).
stir daily several times with a clean spoon.
filter the lemonade into clean bottles (don’t know what these bottles are called, see photo).
store the bottles in a cool place and consume within the next 10 days.
some recipes recommend to place the bottles in the sun for 6 – 8 days (if the lemonade is already quite bubbly from the previous process this might be too much, you can however add some ting to a pretty mellow lemonade).
the result is a delicious, slightly fizzy lemonade. niammmm.
when you open the bottle it might bubble quite a bit, depending on how alcoholic it got.
the lemonade can also be made with lime-blossoms. (i have never tried that yet, but it says it can be done in the recipe and it does sound delicious)
holunderblüten sprudel limonade
4 l wasser
1 dl essig (apfelessig)
700 g zucker
1 zitrone in scheiben
15 holunderblüten
die blüten lösen (je weniger grünzeugs desto besser, am besten ist es die weissen blümchen abzuschütteln).
mit wasser, essig, zucker und zitronenscheiben in eine grosse schüssel geben.
es empfiehlt sich den zucker zuerst im wasser aufzulösen.
die schüssel 24 – 72 stunden in der sonne stehen lassen (ein paar rezepte fragen nach 6 – 7 tage in der sonne, ich habe es bisher noch nie solange gewagt. die limo wird immer alkoholischer).
täglich mehrmals mit sauberem löffel umrühren.
die limonade filtern und in saubere flaschen mit patentverschluss geben.
die flaschen an einem kühlen ort lagern und in den nächsten 10 tagen geniessen.
einige rezepte empfehlen es die flaschen 6 – 8 tage in der sonne stehen zu lassen. (je nachdem wie alkoholisch die limo bereits ist, kann die sonne es übersäuern, auch können flaschen zerspringen. andererseits kann jetzt bei schwachen limos noch ein bisschen fermentierung reinkommen).
beim öffnen können die flaschen überschäumen, je nachdem wie alkoholisch die limonade geworden ist.
die limonade kann auch mit lindenblüten gemacht werden (selbst noch nie probiert, steht aber im rezept drin und tönt gut).
Mmmmm… I loooove elderflower lemonade! I often mix it with apple juice. It’s heavenly!
I wish they had elder trees here in the East End. 🙁
How long can you keep the lemonade once bottled?
Hi Nil. It depends how you keep it. In room temperature or in a cellar that is not quite cool enough the lemonade will keep fermenting. This can turn it sour. Or at times it can even make bottles break from the carbonation building up. But as soon as you place the lemonade in the fridge the fermentation stops and it can be kept longer. As always with self-fermented things, test it, smell it, take a small sip before consuming it.
We sometimes have kept the lemonade for a few months. This year we couldn’t resist and drank it all withing a few weeks.