Easy Elderberry Jelly

One of the best ways to enjoy the elderberry fruit is in a jam or jelly. It's really good on just about anything that you want to add a jolt of fruitiness to. It's wonderful on biscuits or toast. I recently made some shortbread cookies and added a little dollop of elderberry jelly. Mmmmm...they didn't last long I can tell you.

Anytime you cook with elderberries, make sure you either get them from a reliable source or pick them yoursel. A later post will will offer suggestions and hints for gathering elderberries in the wild.

Here's what you're going to need to make this jelly:

3 quarts of elderberries
2 cups of water
5 cups of sugar, preferably unrefined
2 tbsp of fresh lemon juice
1 pkg of pectin
1 tbsp of butter, unsalted
parafin

Pour the elderberries into a large stock pot and pour the water over the top of the berries. Use a potato masher to cruch them thoroughly. When the berries come to a boil, remove from heat.

Place a seive layered with cheesecloth over a heat proof bowl and pour the elderberries into the seive to drain the juice. Take the berry juice and pour it back into the pot and add the pectin and lemon juice. Turn on the heat and when it comes to boil, add the sugar, stir and boil for one more minute. Add the butter, stir and remove from heat.

Divide the mixture up into 4 pint jars and pour about a half inch of paraffin over the top of the mixture in each jar and then seal the jars. Let them sit for a few days and then enjoy your homemade elderberry jelly.

Wine Making With Elderberry

Remember the story from Arsenic and Old Lace where the two old ladies passed the time wine making with elderberry and then lacing it with a deadly mixture to poison lonely old men? Not a very good reference for elderberry wine or wine making but for me it brings back memories of my youth when my grandfather would make wine from elderberries and all of us grandkids would even get to taste it on special occasions. A more recent use of the topic came from a song released by Elton John in 1973 called Elderberry Wine. A few years ago I decided to bring back my grandfather's yearly wine making ritual and start producing my own. I didn't have his recipe but I remembered watching him and had a good idea what it entailed and after doing some research, I settled on the following recipe:

3 gallons of ripe elderberries
3 gallons of boiling water
3 lbs. of granulated sugar
1 lb. of raisins
1 ounce of ginger
1 lemon (squeezed)
1/2 ounce of wine yeast

Clean and crush the berries and place them in a clean and sanitized bucket along with the ginger, raisins and lemon juice . Pour the sugar on top of the mixture. Then pour the boiling water on top of the sugar and berry mixture. Wait until the mixture cools and then add the yeast. Cover the bucket and place the mixture in a warm place for a week, stirring the mixture at least once a day.

Strain the berries through muslin into another clean and sanitized bucket making sure that you don't squeeze too hard or you'll end up with syrup. AFter straining, pour the wine into a demijohn or some other glass bottles that you can seal with a cork, preferably clear glass so you can keep an eye on the formentation process. Place the the bottle(s) in a warm place like a kitchen cupboard. Don't let the containers become too hot, just warm. Then sit back and wait as the formentation process can take as long as a year for elderberry wine. You'll know it's ready when the mixture stops bubbling.

Take the wine and bottle it up in wine bottles, making sure that you don't get any of the sediment in it, and seal with a cork. All that's left now is to enjoy.

There are many uses for elderberry and making wine with elderberry can be fun, but time consuming but if you're willing to wait, the rewards are delicious.

Elderberry Effective Against Flu

Elderberry contains two compounds that make Elderberry effective against flu viruses. An outbreak of flu at an Israeli kibbutz gave researchers a chance to test a product called Sambucol made from an extract of elderberries. They found that 1 out of 5 of those infected with the flu showed prominent relief of symptoms within 1 day and that 3 out 4 were greatly improved on day 2. After 72 hours, 9 out of 10 reported to be back to normal. In a placebo group, 1 out of 4 were better in 48 hours and it took around 6 days for them get better. Tests have shown that it's most effective if taken at the first signs of infection.

Sambucol is available at most health stores and pharmacies.

If not available, you can make a tea from elderflowers by steeping one tablespoon of elder flowers in one cup of boiling water for 10 - 15 minutes, strain and drink. 3 times a day should do the trick.

Once again, we see the benefits of black elderberry extract as a staple in any natural healing medicine cabinet.