Food and Drink

Hendrik · Post by **Hendrik** » Wed May 17, 2006 9:26 am

I can't believe that only one OB is interested in cheap alcohol...

Euterpe13 · Post by **Euterpe13** » Wed May 17, 2006 9:48 am

Hendrik wrote:I can't believe that only one OB is interested in cheap alcohol...

well, I am but it's already cheaper than that here in Spain...

Richard Ruck · Post by **Richard Ruck** » Wed May 17, 2006 10:28 am

Hendrik wrote:I can't believe that only one OB is interested in cheap alcohol...

Make that two.....

Great Plum · Post by **Great Plum** » Wed May 17, 2006 12:45 pm

Richard Ruck wrote:
Hendrik wrote:I can't believe that only one OB is interested in cheap alcohol...
Make that two.....

And it would be the two of us!

englishangel · Post by **englishangel** » Wed May 17, 2006 11:22 pm

Only 2 of us in at work today and we saw off those blue-arsed flies.

I have a 21st and 2 x 18ths coming up at the end of the year, it sounds like a good idea to me.

J.R. · Post by **J.R.** » Thu May 18, 2006 11:37 am

Richard Ruck wrote:
Hendrik wrote:I can't believe that only one OB is interested in cheap alcohol...
Make that two.....

THREE................ but not if Richard is pouring !

Hendrik · Post by **Hendrik** » Fri May 19, 2006 9:26 am

I think there must be some correlation between proximity to CH and borderline alcoholism!

Yep, probably not that worth it for those living in Spain as it's already cheaper. The main point of importing it would be the niceness of the stuff as well as cheapness, though. I never managed to come across any spectacular booze in Spain, but it was spectacularly cheap.
If it was just for cheap alcohol, I'd suggest just setting up a moonshine still in J.R.'s garden, so long as he had no objections!

OK, well that's already a few of us, might actually be worth it.

Any more for any more?

J.R. · Post by **J.R.** » Fri May 19, 2006 1:55 pm

Hendrik wrote:I think there must be some correlation between proximity to CH and borderline alcoholism!

Yep, probably not that worth it for those living in Spain as it's already cheaper. The main point of importing it would be the niceness of the stuff as well as cheapness, though. I never managed to come across any spectacular booze in Spain, but it was spectacularly cheap.
If it was just for cheap alcohol, I'd suggest just setting up a moonshine still in J.R.'s garden, so long as he had no objections!

OK, well that's already a few of us, might actually be worth it.

Any more for any more?

Stupid question, really !!!

BTaylor · Post by **BTaylor** » Fri Jun 23, 2006 11:41 am

Thought I'd resurrect an old thread. I've just made both elderflower cordial and elderflower champagne. With the enormous amount of elder flowers around at the moment it seemed churlish not to.

Any other good 'wild food' recipes?

Here's the one for the cordial

30 elderflower heads - fully open and picked on a hot, dry day.
6 pints boiling water
2lb caster sugar
1 packet of citric acid (get it in the chemists - 50g does it)
2 unwaxed oranges
3 unwaxed lemons

Method
1. Gently shake the elderflowers to remove any dirt or little creatures.
2. Pour the boiling water over the sugar in a sterilized bucket/mixing bowl. Stir well and leave to cool.
3. Add the citric acid, the oranges and lemons sliced, and then the flowers.
4. Leave in a cool place for 24 hours, stirring occasionally.
5. Strain through some muslin and bottle.

Keeps for around 4 weeks in the fridge, or can be frozen. Dilute at around 5:1 before drinking.

Once the champagne is ready I'll post that recipe, if its any good.

Richard Ruck · Post by **Richard Ruck** » Fri Jun 23, 2006 11:48 am

Thanks for that. We were going to go and pick some this weekend anyway, so I might give this a go.

My wife wants to make elderflower fritters (I think they need a light batter, a bit like tempura).

If they work I'll let you know.

On another thread, Hendrik mentioned that his girlfriend was making elderflower schnapps. Now THAT sounds like a recipe worth having!

Richard Ruck · Post by **Richard Ruck** » Fri Jun 23, 2006 1:29 pm

BTaylor wrote:Any other good 'wild food' recipes?

Have a look at this book :

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0330 ... e&n=266239

Plenty of stuff in there to get you going - lots of good photographs (all dated, so you'll know exactly when to look for various plants) and useful recipes as well.

Hendrik · Post by **Hendrik** » Fri Jun 23, 2006 7:27 pm

a really good book for wild food recipes, and just generally on self-sufficient living, is "The Whole Earth Catalog". Can't remember who wrote it and it was probably last published in the seventies sometime.
it's chock-full of food stuff and has got a lot of indepth stuff on wine, beer, etc.

re schnapps making (applies to any flavour):

Get a suitable bottle or large jar

chop and put in lots of whatever you want it to taste of (in this case elderflower). the more you put in the more it will taste of it. I try and fill the vessel with chopped plant/fruit and then top up the gaps with spirit.

top up with the spirit to be used (in Austria they use "Korn" which is an unflavoured spirit distilled from, er, corn). These usually range from 32% ABV up to 80% ABV. The higher the ABV the more flavour and colour the alcohol can absorb

leave for about a week without adding anything else. this is to ensure that the alcohol extracts as much colour and flavour from the source plant/fruit as possible. leaving it on the window sill is supposed to help, something to do with the heating/cooling (thus expanding/contracting) cycle helping the flavour from the plant to the alcohol.

add sugar and leave for another two weeks (at least)

filter/strain (or not!) and drink

SUMMARY: put fruit and some sugar in a bottle of booze and leave it

hoob · Post by **hoob** » Fri Jun 23, 2006 10:41 pm

BTaylor wrote:Thought I'd resurrect an old thread. I've just made both elderflower cordial and elderflower champagne. With the enormous amount of elder flowers around at the moment it seemed churlish not to.

Any other good 'wild food' recipes?

Here's the one for the cordial

......
Once the champagne is ready I'll post that recipe, if its any good.

Make sure you get some nice strong bottles for the champage - we used to make this regularly until one year the whole lot exploded. Not sure if it was the sugar, the storage shed or the bottles, but it went....

and i cried......(was

Great Plum · Post by **Great Plum** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 8:56 am

Must have made a good bang!

BTaylor · Post by **BTaylor** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 2:59 pm

hoob wrote:
BTaylor wrote:Thought I'd resurrect an old thread. I've just made both elderflower cordial and elderflower champagne. With the enormous amount of elder flowers around at the moment it seemed churlish not to.

Any other good 'wild food' recipes?

Here's the one for the cordial

......
Once the champagne is ready I'll post that recipe, if its any good.
Make sure you get some nice strong bottles for the champage - we used to make this regularly until one year the whole lot exploded. Not sure if it was the sugar, the storage shed or the bottles, but it went....

and i cried......(was

I'm using old champagne bottles with normal wine corks hammered in. I'm reckoning that any build-up in pressure will result in the corks popping out, and not the bottles exploding.

Will keep my fingers crossed.