Winter 2011 is cold, it snowed for a couple of days and I’m snowed in, hopefully tomorrow I’ll be able to get out of here… otherwise there’s elderflower liqueur!
Spring and Summer colours, smells and flavours have a great appeal when everything outside is cold and silent snow, so here’s my Elderflower liqueur recipe: smells of Spring perfect for Winter consumption! :)
First of all you need to collect and dry your elderflowers, you can see how I do this here.
Once you have the flowers you need:

50/60 big elderflower heads
2 lemons
300 gr of sugar
450 gr of 95º alcohol
550 gr of water
(If you can’t find 95º alcohol use a strong Vodka and reduce the amount of water accordingly)

Elderflower-liqueur-ingredi

Make a syrup by boiling the water and sugar for 1 minute.
Mix the syrup, alcohol, juice of the 2 lemons and the “leftover” rind in a glass jar that you can close tightly.

Elderflower-liqueur

Leave in a warm place for 6/7 weeks.
Drain, discard the lemon rinds and filter the flowers using a clean cloth. “Wash” the flowers with 100 gr of alcohol and filter again squeezing as much as you can.
Add a syrup made with 100 gr of water and 50 gr of sugar.
Let rest for 4 months minimum (1 year is better).
ENJOY!