Elderberry in My Garden – Recipes & Memories from My Childhood

Elderberry – Mississippi Native

People have asked me when my love of wildwood and gardening started. I can honestly say that I was born to love nature. Both my dad and his mother, my grandmother, were avid gardeners, and my dad was a forager and a beekeeper. My family spent many days rambling in the woods–looking for things that we could cook. Elderberry was one of our prizes.

My dad would gingerly cut clusters of ripe elderberries from the readily available elderberry shrubs, and we would take the ripe fruit home. One of the things that my dad cooked was Elderberry Fritters. He would dip small bunches of blossoms into batter and fry them battered until the delicacy was golden brown. Then, he would liberally sprinkle powdered sugar all over the treat. Yum! Beary Beary good.

[Note: Limited Amounts of the Elder Bush Should be Consumed. The Elder Bush could be toxic.}

My dad also made Elderberry Jelly and Elderberry Wine. I was young and never tasted the wine, but the Elderberry Jelly was wonderful. Of course, those recipes are made with the berries and not parts of the bush.

Elder (Sambucus canadensis)
Image Credit: North Carolina State Extension

Today, I planted a small Elder Tree in my garden, and Visions of Sugarplums Danced in My Head.

I found the following website that offers several Recipes that use Elderberries in various ways: Great British Chefs

“One of the best ways to use elderberries is to make them into a syrup or cordial, to make delicious fruity drinks and cocktails (such as this Elderberry Kir Royale). You can also leave the berries to infuse their flavour into spirits – Elderberry gin is particularly tasty. Elderberry vinegar is fantastic for using in salad dressings and sauces, while Elderberry jam is simple to make. And if you’ve found some elderberries but they’re not quite ripe yet, pick some anyway – you can create Elderberry capers by packing the unripe berries in salt.

“When cooking with elderberries, always discard the stems as they are slightly toxic. The best way to separate the berries is to run the prongs of a fork through the stems over a bowl.” Great British Chefs

Image Credit: Jo’s Kitchen Larder

Recipe for Elderberry Cordial

Ingredients

“Typical ratio of sugar to elderberry juice is 500g (1.1lb or 17.6oz) sugar for every 1 litre (4.2 cups) of juice you get after straining cooked elderberries. You can of course adjust the amount of sugar according to your preferences but do bare in mind that elderberries are quite bitter plus less sugar will affect the shelf-life of your syrup

“Lemon Juice – Natural preservative and flavour enhancer it cuts through all the sweetness of the syrup and naturally extends its shelf-life.

“I like to add juice of one large lemon for every litre of elderberry juice.” Jo’s Kitchen Larder

EQUIPMENT

Large Bowl – Great for washing elderberries. You’ll be surprised how many little bugs and spiders hide in these berry bunches when you pick them.

Medium to large saucepan (depending on the amount of syrup you’re making) for cooking the elderberries.

Potato Masher – Super helpful for mashing and squashing the elderberries as they cook.

Sieve – Fine sieve is important here as you will need to strain the elderberries once cooked.

Muslin Cloth – Not essential if you’ve got a really fine sieve but I use it just to make sure that no pulp gets through into my syrup at all.

Funnel – Makes bottling the syrup so much easier.

Glass Bottles – I use the ones with swing tops my hubby bought for making his homebrew, love them.

TOP TIPS

Make sure you wear some old cloths you don’t mind getting few stains on as elderberries will get you dirty even if you think you’re being really careful.

Use fork to take elderberries off their little bunches. Simply run the fork down the stalk and they should come off (they will splatter a bit so wear those old clothes or at least an apron).

You could freeze elderberry bunches first which will make taking berries off a real doddle.

Wash elderberries really well as there are tons of little insects living on them. I find that immersing them in a bowl full of water makes the insects come up to the surface. Drain and repeat for super clean berries.

Make sure to pick and discard any green elderberries.

Use potato masher for getting extra juice out of elderberries as they cook.
If you’d like for your syrup to last without spoiling, make sure to sterilise bottles and jars you will use to store it in. Jo’s Kitchen Larder