Ideas for Elderberries

[justkate]

I've been reading the thread about elder flowers with interest. We have a tree in our garden . . . it was originally part of a hedge in the front garden, but our neighbours preferred a fence, so they dug the hedge up. Anyhow, cutting a long story short, I rescued the tree, and moved it around the back, and hopefully we should get a decent crop of berries this year. Any ideas about uses for them? Can they be used to make jam, or did I imagine that?

[glenniedragon]

Apple and elderberry jelly is lovely, you can make elderberry cordial too, and my personal favourite elderberry wine....mmmm.....I add half a bottle of brandy to the demijohn before bottling to make a port-like wine always goes down well

kind thoughts
Deb

[justkate]

Thank you. I thought jam/jelly was an option, but then it crossed my mind that I might be wrong. LOL

I like the sound of elderberry cordial, how do you make that? And your wine sounds very potent, but yummy.

Kate :-)

[glenniedragon]

Elderberry Cordial
Elderberries (still on stalks)
Sugar
Cloves

Pick the fruit on a dry day and stew with the stalks in a large stainless steel saucepan, with just enough water to cover.
Strain through jelly bag squeezing to get all the juice.
To each pint of juice add 1 lb (450g) of white granulated sugar and 10 cloves.
Boil for 10 minutes.
Allow to cool and bottle in sterile bottles with good quality plastic screw-on tops making sure you distribute the cloves evenly amongst the bottles (they act as a preservative).
use like an ordinary cordial, dilute with water but watch for the cloves! Its a lovely mixer for vodka!

Basic Elderberry wine recipe

4lb Elderberries
500ml of boiling water
2 lb (907) of granulated sugar
a 'claret' yeast sachet
8 oz (200g) chopped raisins
Juice of 1 lemon
Juice of 1 orange
1/4 teaspoon yeast extract

Strip the berries from the stalks with a fork and put into a demijohn. Add 8 oz chopped raisins, juice of the lemon and the juice of an orange.
Boil the water and dissolve the sugar and yeast extract and stir well.
Add to demijohn and make up to a gallon with cold water, then add the yeast. Top the demijohn with an airlock or a piece of sterilized muslin or a bung of cotton wool.
Leave to ferment in a warm , dark place.
Rack off the lees (syphon off the wine from the sediment)into a clean demijohn when bubbling has subsided.
Rack again 6 weeks later, this is when I add the 1/2 bottle of Brandy.
Bottle in dark green bottles when wine is clear and there has been no activity for some time which means fermentation has stopped.

Enjoy
kind thoughts
Deb

[ina]

Jelly is very nice; you can also mix a few elderberries in with plums for jam, or with plums and pears or apples for "bottled autumn fruit".

[Aberlemno]

They incorporate well into a Hedgepick Jam too - blackberries, elderberries, sloes, a few crabs.

Here's a nice Chutney recipe:

2 pints elderberries (no stalks)
1/4 lb seedless raisins
1/4 lb sugar
1/2 oz salt
pinch cayenne
pinch allspice
1 pint vinegar
2 oz onions, finely chopped

Put one third of the vinegar, and all the other ingredients except sugar into a pan, and simmer till thick. Add a second 1/3 of the vinegar, and simmer until thick. Add the rest of the vinegar, and the warmed sugar, and simmer till thick; pot and cover.

Chutney is ready if no liquid is visible when a wooden spoon is drawn through the mixture.

Elderberry & Crab-Apple Chutney

1 1/2 lb elderberries (rtaher under-ripe)
1 1/2 lb crab apples
1/2 lb sultanas
1/2 lb onions
1 pint vinegar
1/2 lb sugar
1 tsp each of ground ginger, cinnamon, allspice and cayenne pepper
4 oz salt

Mince onions and cook in water till tender; strand, and add one third of the vinegar, and all other ingredients except sugar, and simmer until thick. Add a 2nd one third of the vinegar and simmer till thick. Add the rest of the vinegar and the warmed sugar, and simmer till thick. Pot and cover.

[Aberlemno]

Here's a link to a wonderful website on all things Elder; enjoy:

http://www.patch-work.demon.co.uk/elder.htm

[The Orkney BeeGee]

Of all the wines I've had a go at, elderberry is the closest I've tasted to commercially produced grape-based red - not unlike a cab sauv in fact.

Up in these Orcadian latitudes (that's 59 North fact fans) the trees give you a good crop of flowers but it just ain't warm/sunny enough to get ripe berries as far as I can see but if anyone knows better, let me know.

There's a brew/winemaking supplies shop here that sells dried elderberries, which are a very easy source. They stock dried sloes as well and the two together make a fab combo.

NB: You can reuse the pulp from the first batch and add sugar/yeast etc and get a second batch of equal strength but much lighter - not quite as light as a rose (how do you put an accent on an e btw?) and nice slightly chilled.

I scored a 5 gallon boiler recently and we are going for 5 gallon batches, so that's 10 gallons from a packet of elderberries and one of dried sloes.

I'll post the recipe later.......

ttfn

[Luath]

I've done the second run rose thing, worth doing. I make a few gallons of elderberry port every year, it's one of the best things to do with elderberries.

You can also use them cooked with apple in pies, make jam, chutney, cordial, freeze them for later use, Elder Rob, and they make a very good dyestuff for wool.

[The Orkney BeeGee]

I like the sound of the port thing. Do you add brandy to stop fermentation early and keep it sweet like wot they do in Portugal?

Although I try and avoid going out and actually PAYING for alcohol I might give it a go - details please!

Dried Elderberry+Sloe recipe:

Per gallon:

125g Dried elderberries
125g Dried sloes
200g Currants, chopped
1.2 Kg Sugar (all white will do but 1kg white + 200g dark brown is good)
1 tsp Citric acid
1/2 level tsp Tartaric acid (optional - just if you have some around)
1 tsp Pectolase
Bordeaux yeast
1 tsp yeast nutrient.

Pour 1 gal boiling water over e-berries/sloes/sugar, stir til sugar dissolved. When down to 30 C add acids, pecto, yeast and nutrient, ferment in bucket at least 5, but pref 7 days. Then strain into demi - should only need one rack before clearing quickly compared to most wines - you might get a deep layer of sediment unless you are really fussy with the straining. Use a bit of muslin rather than a sieve if poss.

If you use a bit of extra water at start (a pint-ish over the gallon) you can keep some of the wine as a yeast starter for the second batch.

For the second batch, keep your spare wine to be used as a yeast source separate. To the pulp add more sugar, boiling water as before then when cool add the acids etc and pour in your pint of yeasty gloop from Batch 1 and off you go again!

The second batch will look like rose (as in rose-ay) and is nice slightly chilled. You could even make a 'medium' version with a blend of the final product from each batch.

I'm off up to the allotment now
ttfn