Fizzy Summer Cherry Drink

Fizzy Summer Cherry Drink

We love the summer. The sun is still shining well after the kids have come home from school, and there is time (if they are excused a late night on a school day) to take late night foraging walks.

Dusk walks are perfect for deer and hare spotting too, especially around the margins of fields, so walk slowly as you get to hedge corners to see what you can spot around the corner.

A great treat to take with you is to make your own cool and refreshing fizzy drinks, and what can be better than making them out of your own foraged produce.

July / August is a good time to forage for cherries. They are abundant in road side trees this time of year, but you have to get to them before the wood pigeons do. (Although you can always add pigeon for a later meal too…)

Pick the really sweet dark red ones and follow this recipe for making this American Settler-style cherry fizzy drink

Make the infusion

Mix 100g of sugar (or 80g of honey) with 1 litre of very hot water. Infuse two cups of cherries for 1 hour, strain and let cool.

Add a drop of cream of tartar and a pinch or so of brewers yeast. Then pour into a sturdy bottle. Place somewhere warm for three or four hours to start the fizzy chain reaction. Securely cork (you might need to tie down with string or tape) and leave to ferment overnight.

Drink within a day or two otherwise the bottle WILL explode