Elder flower aquavita

The elder flower season of 2013 has been playing some tricks with me :-) First my elder flower tea failure version turned in yeasty one big lump followed secondly by an elder flower liqueur failure version, which was extremely bitter !!!!

And here positive minded persons will not see problems, but opportunities for developments and success !!!! So I took on my "ja-hat" (= yes hat) as we say here in Denmark and went looking for elder flower liqueur recipes with google. And I found various suggestions each for them going in many different directions. I decided to place my trust in these two recipes hyldeblomst snaps and hyldeblomst likør. I also learn, that the reason, why the elder flower are changing colour from cream white to brownish black is relating to oxidation. Interesting to notice, that this oxidation takes place in alcohol, but not in vinegar, as the elder flowers in this elder flower vinegar maintain their wonderful cream white colour !!!

It should be possible to avoid the bitterness doing these two things: removes as most of the stems as possible, which I spend 1 hour doing in front of the TV, and only let the elder flower remain for 4 fours submerged into the alcohol.

When I removed the elder flowers from the vodka I took a tiny, tiny snip of the vodka and it tasted like a wonderful Danish Summer day or perhaps just like heaven.

Elder flower aquavita:

• 20-30 elder flower stems - only the flower heads
• 0.7 l vodka

1. Start by removing the flower heads from the elder flower stems, this is quiet time consuming, so place yourself in front of the TV.
2. Fill the flower head in a glass, which was sterilise by boiling water beforehand.
3. Fill the vodka on top.
4. Place the glass in the refrigerator and let the elder flower infuse the vodka for 4 days and not a single day longer.
5. Remove the elder flowers from the vodka.
6. Pass the elder flower aquavita through a funnel covered with coffee filter paper in order to remove any elder flower leftovers.
7. You now have a great tasting aquavita or an important building stone for making elder flower liqueur.