Also found ripe elderberries while....

#1 08/16/05, 09:16 PM

clearing brush. I'm not getting much brush cleared out. I keep finding things to eat. Any of you make wine and jelly out of these also?

marvella · #2 08/16/05, 10:27 PM

elderberries make a nice wine. if you make them up into jelly, it must have pectin added to it, or it won't set up. it's real tasty, tho!

Hummingbird · #3 08/16/05, 10:30 PM

We make elderberry wine and I'm also trying a homemade batch of sambucol, a cold & flu remedy made with elderberries & brandy. The elderberry wine is really tasty and is also good for colds & flu.

Course that would be in moderation, of course!

Nance

#4 08/17/05, 11:51 AM

My little patch of elderberries is rather small. Not really enough to make a good bottle of wine or make a worthy amount of jelly. However it might be enough to make a pie with apples as mentioned above or thatch's homemade tonic. I need to make a 35 mile trip down to my sisters home. If I remember right I think the back of her place was infested with elderberry bushes. Thanks for some of the great recipes!

mrglock27 · #5 08/17/05, 12:12 PM

Red elderberries are NOT edible, only BLUE elderberries are edible. Just in case somebody doesn't know.

TnTnTn · #6 08/17/05, 01:11 PM

MellisaW-In your recipe you call for four cups of elderberries. This is a dumb question but I am not a cook-OK,LOL. Is this 4 cups of the little elderberries as separated from the tiny stalks? I would think so but that is a lot of little tiny berry picking!! Thanks I am going to try this-maybe with the 1/2 apple recipe too. TnTnTn

milkstoolcowboy · #7 08/17/05, 01:53 PM

Yes, picking the elderberries off the stem is time-consuming, but if you cook them with the stems on, you'll get a stemmy-woody taste that I do not enjoy. Many people do, however, cook them stem on (throwing whole clusters in) for making syrups and such.

Hummingbird · #8 08/17/05, 02:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TnTnTn

MellisaW-In your recipe you call for four cups of elderberries. This is a dumb question but I am not a cook-OK,LOL. Is this 4 cups of the little elderberries as separated from the tiny stalks? I would think so but that is a lot of little tiny berry picking!! Thanks I am going to try this-maybe with the 1/2 apple recipe too. TnTnTn

LOL - NOT a dumb question at all - how else do we learn?

We've had the best results by "combing" the clusters with a fork over a basin. The berries come off quite nicely. Have fun!

Nance

woodspirit · #9 08/18/05, 10:37 PM

I have one wild bush that I tried to kill by mowing, spraying roundup, spraying 2-4-d, and burning. one fine spring day I came downstairs and this beautiful white flowering plant filled my window. It grows in shade or sun, deer don't like it.....much. Tolerates wet feet too. The plants leaves and stem are poisonous. The most important thing to know about it is how to harvest them. It takes years and hundreds of lives to pick individual berries and messy too. I cut off the bunches and put them in paper bags, place them in the freezer and when frozen the berries don't mush up in your fingers and come right off the bunches. Real time saver. Now nobody has an excuse not to harvest and enjoy them, as long as you get them before the birds.

**Shrek** · #10 08/19/05, 12:53 AM

r.h.,
You can propagate the elder cane by hardwood cuttings and root them in the spring. Also when squeezing the berries toss the seeds and pulp out to winter and some seedlings may sprout in spring. I'm taking cuttings from my patch here this fall to add to my parimeter fencing of natural brush and wild black berries.

For wine recipes for elderberrie wine go to www.jackkeller.net

For wine making supplies go to www.eckraus.com

Most all of jacks recipes are scaled to 1 gallon batches.

Ravenlost · #11 08/19/05, 08:51 AM

I've been making Elderberry Jelly for years. Looking forward to doing so again next week. And I'm always on the lookout for new recipes...thanks for sharing them in this thread!

KRH · #12 08/22/05, 06:16 AM

A little trick I use to remove the berries from the stems. I use the plastic Wal-Mart bags. Cut one or more clusters depending on size with a long enough stem to hold on to. Place the clusters in the bag and gently shake the berries against the side of the bag. Most of the stems and green berries stay on the stalk and you have just the berries to carry home. Just before use I put them in a shallow pan of cold water and most of the remaining stems,bugs, etc.. float to the top.

Ann Mary · #13 08/22/05, 03:13 PM

Could someone tell me how to tell when they are ripe so I don't miss them? Is it when they turn dark purple or do they need a first frost? thanks!

#14 08/22/05, 09:23 PM

Ann, yes it is when they turn a dark purple. They will start out green and turn to red and then to a dark purple. I harvested all that I could find this morning and ended up with 3 pounds worth. My wife came home this evening with the pectin kit and it called for 3 pounds. Whew!! She just got done making the jelly just a bit ago and it made us 3 pints worth. We sampled the leftover juice and it is absolutly delicious!!!! I can hardly wait to make a big batch of homemade biscuits and try this new jelly with it.