Elderberry Juice

[Durgan]

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?NYVCU 12 August 2010 Elderberry Juice

Nine pounds of elderberries were picked today. This makes a total pf 21 pounds in the last week or so. To utilize them it was decided to make juice. After some experimenting this is my method. Four cups of berries are placed in a container, and water is added to fill the container still containing the berries. The purpose is to obtain a fairly strong juice. The berries are placed in a pot set to gently boil for about 20 minutes, meanwhile mashing periodically to break the berries apart. The mixture is strained through a cheese cloth to extract as much juice as possible from the pulp. Pictures depict the method.

[Durgan]

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?ABXRH 16 August 2010 Elderberries.

Thirteen pounds of elderberries were picked this morning and processed. Juice will be made and stored in the refrigerator for relatively immediate consumption. A Presto pressure canner has been ordered so the juice can be kept for longer periods and stored in a cold room. This is a perfect year for this fruit. The five bushes with which I am familiar still have many berries available. Observation indicates that the best berries are in the shaded part of the bushes, since direct sun dries the berries somewhat. This will be my last picking. It appears that I am the only person picking the fruit.

[Millymollymandy]

Bet you've got nice black hands and fingernails now Durgan! I was surprised to see ripe berries on one of my trees yesterday as I thought it was far too early. The other tree is still mostly green!

[battybird]

There are some lovely elderberries now ripe at our allotment...nobody picks them! But I will be doing it wearing very stylish blue or green nitrile gloves (allergic to latex!!) as I have been caught out with black hands before ok..cant find a black smilie!
I do wonder what the other allotment gardeners think...no-one comments...maybe they just know that an element of madness is present in most gardeners

[Durgan]

Two years ago when there was a bumper crop of elderberries the date they appeared was about the third of
September. The fruit is about three weeks early this year, but we has a very hot Summer, with adequate rain.

My hands never get stained handling elderberries. Not like the black walnut where the stain stays for about three weeks.

[Millymollymandy]

Yeah walnut is a bad one, that's why there's a wood stain made out of it! I've still got a stain on a pair of jeans that hasn't gone after umpteen washes.

My fingers and fingernails (particularly right hand thumb and forefinger) are so disgustingly black all through the summer, mostly from picking out side shoots on tomatoes then added to by picking and processing blackcurrants, blackberries, beetroot and elderberries. They'll be clean again about December.

[Shirleymouse]

Thank you! There are loads of elderberries growing ny the canal near my house and I've been dying to pick them but wasn't really sure what to do with them. Def going to have a go at making juice. I've already stripped the canal towpath of most of it's blackberries and frozen them in portions for making lovely crumbles all through the winter

[Millymollymandy]

Shirleym - try freezing elderberries in small batches for adding to apple crumbles, in my opinion they are much nicer than blackberries but impart that lovely colour and flavour through it. They make lovely jelly too but really need to be diluted with apple or it makes too strong a jelly. I did 1/3 each apple, redcurrant and elderberry last year and it is lovely.

[Shirleymouse]

Ooh! I'll try that, I adore crumble of any sort! Thanks for the tip

[Gem]

I make cordial from the elderberrys I pick though hoping to make some wine this year!

[123sologne]

Hi there!
I just joined and I must say that I swear by Elderberry cordial since last year when I did my 1st batch. I had some everyday through the entire winter and I never got a single cold! 1st time in my life I never got a cold!! I put some cloves in it for good keeping so I think the combination of both made for some serious top protection! :) I will soon pick some to do more cordial to keep me going through the next winter.

[Millymollymandy]

Hi and welcome to the forum. I think I might be tempted to make some cordial now!

[Shirleymouse]

Sorry, another of my silly questions - how do you make cordial?

[snapdragon]

Sorry, another of my silly questions - how do you make cordial?

I'd like to know this too please

[Millymollymandy]

You can always use the forum search at the top, there's a blackberry cordial recipe currently in the thread about jam (how much do you make or similar title). If you google there are gazillions of recipes! I use this one that I've tried a couple of times since googling it - but found it a tad on the sweet side so you might just want to adjust to taste. This isn't specific to b. currants, you can follow the same recipe with redcurrants, elderberries and blackberries. I always freeze cordial in marge tubs which is just the right amount for a small bottle's worth in the fridge as I'm the only person who drinks them.

BLACKCURRANT CORDIAL
(from River Cottage cookbook)


2kg Fruit
Granulated Sugar


Place your fruit in large saucepan. For each 1kg blackcurrants add 600ml water. Bring to the boil crushing the fuit with masher or wooden spoon.

Cook gently until fruit is soft and juices flowing - will take anything up to 45mins depending on fruit. Remove from the heat.

Scald a jelly bag or fine tea towel and suspend over a large bowl. Tip the fruit in and leave to drip over night.

Measure the resulting juice and pour into a clean pan. For every litre juice add 700g sugar (or to taste). Heat the mixture gently to dissolve the sugar, then remove from the heat. Pour immediately into warm sterlised bottles leaving a 1cm gap at the top. Seal with scew-top or cork.

Will keep for several months (if want to keep for longer you will need to sterilise the bottles in a water bath immediately after bottling.