Have you heard of May wine?

A flowered recipe

This drink is borrowed from our belgium friends as it is a speciality of the Arlon region in Belgium. It is also known in german speaking countries as the so-called Maitrank. This is an original and seasonal drink, very easy to realise…

It is made thanks to the maceration of little white flowers (galium odoratum), that you can find in the woods at the beginning of May. This plant presents numerous medicinal virtues, people have drunk it from the middle age to get rid of winter toxins…

This type of wines done through the maceration of fruits or flowers were widespread at the time as it could “save” wines that were often too tart. Thanks to the progess done in the vinification process we can now avoid those problems. May wine has nowadays a restricted production but is still tradionally made in its original regions.

The recipe

We usullay use white wine from Alsace or Luxemburg, such as riesling or rivaner to make it.
Macerate for 48 hours a handfull of flowers (aound 30g) in 75cl of white wine added with 75g of sugar.
Filter the drink, bottle it and keep it in the fridge.

Serve chilled and treat yourself !