GO GREEN: Flowers to home brew; sponsored by Environment Agency There's an environmentally-friendly tipple out there, as STEVE EMSLEY explains in his Green Diary.

Byline: STEVE EMSLEY

FOR the cost of two kilos of sugar and two organic lemons, Gil is making nearly a gallon of elderflower champagne from some local elderflowers growing on the borders of the allotment site.

She made an 8am start on a beautiful morning.

The elderflowers are in season and were filling the air with scent while a thrush was piping loudly in the sunshine nearby. She filled a trug with several handfuls of the frothy white flowers.

When she got home she followed this recipe:

Shake flowers to remove any insects.

Measure and boil four litres of water.

Slice up two organic lemons (unwaxed).

Dissolve 2kg of white sugar in the water. Put elderflowers and lemon pieces into a large pan or food quality bucket.

Pour the boiled water and sugar over the flowers and lemons.

Add two tablespoons of white wine vinegar.

Stir for a minute.

Cover with a clean tea towel for two days.

Check for natural fermenting; if not fermenting. add a small pinch of dried yeast.

Cover for a further four days to ferment more.

Then sieve through a clean cloth and decant into either plastic screw-top bottles and screw the tops up tight, or into strong Cava-type bottles. Ordinary beer or wine bottles may explode as fermenting continues in the bottle and gives it the fizz, so be warned.

You can drink it chilled after eight days in the bottle. If you can bear to store any it can last for about a year.

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ELDERFLOWER TIP: Steve Emsley