joy in repetition 0001

elderflower sirup 2012

It's Elderflower time!

Finally picked flowers and made elderflower sirup tonight, after a search through town for corks to close these beer bottles with. These are made for champagne bottles and are the only ones I could find that actually fitted.

I normally use empty wine bottles but just before I started making sirup roommate Huub took every bottle in the house to the recycling bin. These beer bottles are a much better fit for sirup without preservatives anyway, and they look pretty without labels and with their white caps...

Now there's still a pan waiting to be turned into elderflower champagne.

recipe? http://dingsboems.blogspot.nl/2012/03/elderflower-sirup.html
http://dingsboems.blogspot.nl/2012/03/elderflower-champagne.html

Stevia

We've been using liquid stevia instead of sugar for some time now, and when I had the chance to plant stevia in my garden I didn't hesitate. Now the next thing was to learn to make the extract. Found and will test this recipe as soon as our plant is ready to harvest. 

Place your crushed (dried) stevia leaves in a glass jar, then pour vodka over them to coat. We are using vodka instead of water to extract the glycosides because we’ll get a much sweeter end result this way. Opt for vodka over other liquors because it’s flavorless and cheap.

Put the lid on your jar, shake it up, and let it sit on your counter for 24-36 hours. Don’t let it sit for longer than 36 hours, as it will turn more bitter. I used to make a liquid stevia extract the same way that I made other herbal tinctures, letting it sit for weeks. While this may improve the medicinal quality of the extract, it sacrificed a lot of sweetness to do it.

Next, filter out the leaves. 

(found on http://www.foodrenegade.com/how-make-liquid-stevia-extract/#)