What to do with elderberries?

mrs_baggins

I didnt realise they were so veratile!!! Think I will plump for the cordial!!

thriftmonster

I made the syrup thing from the Irish secrets link that someone mentioned. Last winter I fed a tsp to the children and myself each time we looked like getting a cold with amazing results. Dh refused it and he had the only bad cold of the winter.

Apparently there's quite a lot of research on it at the moment as they think it might be anti viral - and there aren't too many of those out there.

twink

Zziggi - do you just cover the berries with water, fancy having a go at the blackberry and elder jam

Debt_Free_Chick

Hedgerow Jelly

You can make this with just elderberries - or any combination of elderberries, blackberries, haws, hips, rowan berries .....

Put berries in pan with a little water. Add a generous amount of fresh herbs - thyme works particularly well. No need to chop etc - just bung it in.

Simmer until soft. Strain through jelly bag - don't press or squeeze, just leave the whole thing for 8-12 hours. Measure juice - for each 570 ml of juice, add 450 g of sugar (1lb sugar to 1pt juice). Stir well, heat gently until all sugar has dissolved.

Boil to setting point and pot.

Use this to enrich casseroles, sauces & gravies. Especially good with goose, duck, pork and game (pheasant).

Experiment with other herbs & spices. This is not a jelly to be spread on toast, but one to add to savoury dishes.

yallapilko

fantastic thread, I love elderberries!

Aril

I made elderberry gin...same principle as sloe gin. Worth leaving a year for flavour to mellow but jolly scrummy!
Aril

dlb

What can i make with elderberries, me and the kids have been and picked alot of ripe ones today, but have no idea what i can make with them.

I have heard of wine but isnt that the flowers of elderberries, not the berrys?

kjl26

You can make wine with both flowers and berries. But cordial is good - I made a batch last week. We had a big stockpot's worth of elderberries and made 8 wine bottles (worst bit is soaking off the old labels, if you can be bothered...:rolleyes: ). I have seen another recipe that just uses elderberries, water and sugar but this is what I did and it turned out really well:

4lbs elderberries weighed on stem
2x2" pieces of cinnamon stick
1 piece ginger root, bruised
Grated nutmeg
1tsp allspice berries
1tsp cloves
1/2 pint water
12 oz honey to each 1 pint liquid
1/4 pint brandy

Take elderberries from stalks and put in saucepan with spices and water. Bring to boil and gently simmer for 20 minutes until pan is full of juice. Sieve and squeeze out all the juice you can. Measure and return to clean saucepan. Bring the juice to the boil and add honey. Stir until it dissolves and boil for 10 minutes. Take pan off heat and wait for it to stop bubbling then pour in the brandy. Pour into hot, sterilized bottles and seal tightly (i used empty screw cap wine bottles :beer: ). Makes about 1 and 1/2 wine bottles full.

Makes a really good warming drink, good for colds - dilute one part to three parts hot water

Katie

dlb

Thanks for that! Sound great we have hundreds of elderberries growing in the field next to our house, will go and get some more tommorow!

Can you bake anything with them cakes ect?

Elixir

Your Father was a hamster and your Mother smelt of Elderberries!!!!





sorry, coudnt help it