how to make May Wine

Read on for my recipe for how to make May Wine

May wine is a tradition in Germany where the herb Sweet Woodruff grows in profusion. This delightful herb grows in the shaded woodland and carpets the ground with its tiny star like flowers.

I started with 4 tiny plants 3 years ago, and now have a gorgeous starry blanket with enough of this fragrant beauty to fill sleep sacks and heart warmers all year long. Apart from being so delightfully pretty sweet woodruff has a secret, when dried it has the relaxing scent of new mown hay.

In Germany it is widely used to flavour jellies, sweets and drinks. The taste is almost honey-like with a touch of aniseed. The May Wine is lovely and just a little Pimms like, perfect for the start of summer.

You will need

large handful of sweet woodruff
1 bottle German wine – Hock etc
1/2 cup sugar
1 basket strawberries
sparling water or Cava

Here’s how

Dry the woodruff overnight in oven with door open just a crack
Pour wine into large jar and stuff in the woodruff
Leave this in the fridge for a week to soak up the flavours
Strain the wine and disgard the herbs
Mash up strawberries with the sugar
Mix into the wine and pour into a large jug
Top up with either sparkling wine or sparkling water

Serve in the sunshine with family and friends.

It was Simon’s birthday yesterday, so I took a jug of May Wine up the lane and we all sat in the garden sipping sunshine and enjoying the day.

Enjoy your day whatever you are up to.

Karon x