Elderberries

[Guest guest]

Do you live in Oregon? I've heard this is elderberry country.

Elaine

> There's a bumper crop of elderberries down the road I'm going to pick.

> Does anyone have specific recipes for them?

> I make kefir and kombucha, which I drink daily and would like to

> ferment some elderberry juice. Anyone have a method?

> I'm not really into wine, tho I know it's a classic country wine.

> I don't really use jam either.

> I can dry the ones I don't juice tho.

> Appreciate the help.

>

[Guest guest]

I used to keep elderberry extract (sambucis nigra), Sambucol, as a

staple in the medicine chest. For use at the first signs of getting

sick.

Can also be used as a poultice ...as per below.

" Active constituents: Flavonoids, including quercetin, are believed to

account for the therapeutic actions of the elderberry flowers and

berries. These flavonoids include anthocyanins that are powerful

antioxidants and protect cells against damage according to test tube

studies.2 According to laboratory research, an extract from the

leaves, combined with St. 's wort and soapwort, inhibits the

influenza virus and herpes simplex virus.3 The effect on influenza of

a syrup made from the berries of the black elderberry has been studied

in a small double-blind trial.4 People receiving an elderberry extract

(2 tablespoons [30 ml] per day for children, 4 tablespoons [60 ml] per

day for adults) appeared to recover faster than did those receiving a

placebo. "

" Sambucol, a black elderberry extract, appears to short-circuit flu

symptoms...

A black elderberry extract, appears to short-circuit flu and cold

symptoms. There is more evidence that this herbal treatment -- if

taken when flu-like symptoms first appear -- could help people get

through the flu and colds a bit easier. A small study published five

years ago showed that 93% of flu patients given Sambucol were

completely symptom-free within two days; those taking a placebo

recovered in about six days. This study shows that, indeed, it works

for type A flu, reports lead researcher Erling Thom, with the

University of Oslo in Norway. "

" Historical or traditional use (may or may not be supported by

scientific studies): Elderberries have long been used as food,

particularly in the dried form. Elderberry wine, pie, and lemonade are

some of the popular ways to prepare this plant as food. The leaves

were touted by European herbalists to be pain relieving and to promote

healing of injuries when applied as a poultice.1 Native American

herbalists used the plant for infections, coughs, and skin conditions. "

http://www.mothernature.com/Library/Ency/Index.cfm/id/2082006

> This website refers to a number of other informative sites:

> http://www.elderberries.com/elderberries.html

>

> Another one has a link to " Recipes " that you can click onto:

> http://botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/e/elder-04.html

>

> Hope these have what you are looking for.

[Guest guest]

There are (I think) some elderberry recipes under Natural herbal recipes in the files (like cough, cold remedies

Suzi

SOME ELDER WINE RECIPESAn old recipe for Elder Wine 'To every quart of berries put 2 quarts of water; boil half an hour, run the liquor and break the fruit through a hair sieve; then to every quart of juice, put 3/4 of a pound of Lisbon sugar, coarse, but not the very coarsest. Boil the whole a quarter of an hour with some Jamaica peppers, ginger, and a few cloves. Pour it into a tub, and when of a proper warmth, into the barrel, with toast and yeast to work, which there is more difficulty to make it do than most other liquors. When it ceases to hiss, put a quart of brandy to eight gallons and stop up. Bottle in the spring, or at Christmas. The liquor must be in a warm place to make it work.'

The following recipe for making Elder Wine is given by Mrs. Hewlett in a work entitled Cottage Comforts: 'If two gallons of wine are to be made, get one gallon of Elderberries, and a quart of damsons, or sloes; boil them together in six quarts of water, for half an hour, breaking the fruit with a stick, flat at one end; run off the liquor, and squeeze the pulp through a sieve, or straining cloth; boil the liquor up again with six pounds of coarse sugar, two ounces of ginger, two ounces of bruised allspice, and one ounce of hops; (the spice had better be loosely tied in a bit of muslin); let this boil above half an hour; then pour it off, when quite cool, stir in a teacupful of yeast, and cover it up to work. After two days, skim off the yeast, and put the wine into the barrel, and when it ceases to hiss, which will be in about a fortnight, paste a stiff brown paper over the bung-hole. After this, it will be fit for use in about 8 weeks, but will keep 8 years, if required. The bag of spice may be dropped in at the bung-hole, having a string fastened outside, which shall keep it from

reaching the bottom of the barrel.' Another Recipe 'Strip the berries, which must be quite ripe, into a dry pan and pour 2 gallons of boiling water over 3 gallons of berries. Cover and leave in a warm place for 24 hours; then strain, pressing the juice well out. Measure it and allow 3 pounds of sugar, half an ounce of ginger and 1/4 ounce of cloves to each gallon. Boil for 20 minutes slowly, then strain it into a cask and ferment when lukewarm. Let it remain until still, before bunging, and bottle in six months. 'If a weaker wine is preferred, use 4 gallons of water to 3 gallons of berries and leave for two days before straining. 'If a cask be not available, large stone jars will answer: then the wine need not be bottled.' Parkinson tells us that fresh Elder Flowers hung in a vessel of new wine and pressed every evening for seven nights together, 'giveth to the wine a very good relish and a smell like Muscadine.' Ale was also infused with Elder flowers. The berries make good pies, if blended with spices, and formerly used to be preserved with spice and kept for winter use in pies when fruit was scarce. Quite a delicious jam can also be made of them, mixed with apples, which has much the flavour of Blackberry jam. They mix to very great advantage with Crab Apple, or with the hard Catillac cooking Pear, or with Vegetable Marrow, and also with Blackberries or Rhubarb. The Fruit Preserving Section of the Food Ministry issued during the War the following recipe for Elderberry and Apple Jam: 6 lb. Elderberries, 6 lb. sliced apples, 12 lb. sugar. Make a pulp of the apples by boiling in water till soft and passing through a coarse sieve to remove any seeds or cores. The Elderberries should also be stewed for half an hour to soften them. Combine the Apple pulp, berries and sugar and return to the fire to boil till thick. [Top] Another Recipe Equal quantities of Elderberries and Apples, 3/4 lb. sugar and one lemon to each pound of fruit. Strip the berries from the stalks, peel, core and cut up the apples and weigh both fruits. Put the Elderberries into a pan over low heat and bruise them with a wooden spoon. When the juice begins to flow, add the Apples and one-third of the sugar and bring slowly to the boil. When quite soft, rub all through a hair sieve. Return the pulp to the pan, add the rest of the sugar, the grated lemon rind and juice and boil for half an hour, or until the jam sets when tested. Remove all scum, put into pots and cover. Elderberry Jam without Apples To every pound of berries add 1/4 pint ofwater, the juice of 2 lemons and 1 lb. of sugar. Boil from 30 to 45 minutes, until it sets when tested. Put into jars and tie down when cold. The Elderberry will, of course, also make a jelly. As it is a juicy fruit, it will not need the addition of any more liquid than, perhaps, a squeeze of lemon. Equal quantities of Elderberry juice and apple juice, and apple juice from peeling, will require 3/4 lb. of sugar to a pint. Elderberry Jelly is firm and flavorous, with a racy tang. When the fruit is not quite ripe, it may be preserved in brine and used as a substitute for capers. The juice from Elder Berries, too, was formerly distilled and mixed with vinegar for salad dressings and flavouring sauces. Vinegars used in former times frequently to be aromatized by steeping in them barberries, rosemary, rose leaves, gilliflowers, lavender, violets - in short, any scented flower or plant though tarragon is now practically the only herb used in this manner to any large extent. [Top] Elderflower Vinegar is made thus: Take 2 lb. of dried flowers of Elder. If you use your own flowers, pluck carefully their stalks from them and dry them carefully and thoroughly. This done, place in a large vessel and pour over them 2 pints of good vinegar. Close the vessel hermetically, keep it in a very warm place and shake them from time to time. After 8 days, strain the vinegar through a paper filter. Keep in well-stoppered bottles. This is an old-world simple, but rarely met with nowadays, but worth the slight trouble of making. It was well-known and appreciated in former days and often mentioned in old books; Steele, in The Tatler, says: 'They had dissented about the preference of Elder to Wine vinegar.' One seldom has the chance of now tasting the old country pickle made from the tender young shoots and flowers. , writing in 1664, recommends Elder flowers infused in vinegar as an ingredient of a salad. The pickled blossoms are said by those who have tried them to be a welcome relish with boiled mutton, as a substitute for capers. Clusters of the flowers are gathered in their unripened green state, put into a stone jar and covered with boiling vinegar. Spices are unnecessary. The jar is tied down directly the pickle is cold. This pickle is very good and has the advantage of costing next to nothing. The pickle made from the tender young shoots - sometimes known as 'English Bamboo' - is more elaborate. During May, in the middle of the Elder bushes in the hedges, large young green shoots may be observed. Cut these, selecting the greenest, peel off every vestige of the outer skin and lay them in salt and water overnight. Each individual length must be carefully chosen, for while they must not be too immature, if the shoots are at all woody, they will not be worth eating, The following morning, prepare the pickle for the Mock Bamboo. To a quart of vinegar, add an ounce of white pepper, an ounce of ginger, half a saltspoonful of mace and boil all well together. Remove the Elder shoots from the salt and water, dry in a cloth and slice up into suitable pieces, laying them in a stone jar. Pour the boiling mixture over them and either place them in an oven for 2 hours, or in a pan of boiling water on the stove. When cold, the pickle should be green in colour. If not, strain the

liquor, boil it up again, pour over the shoots and repeat the process. The great art of obtaining and retaining the essence of the plant lies in excluding air from the tied-down jar as much as possible. The young shoots can also be boiled in salted water with a pinch of soda to preserve the colour, they prove beautifully tender, resembling spinach, and form quite a welcome addition to the dinner table. Good use can be made of the berries for Ketchup and Chutney, and the following recipes will be found excellent. [Top] Elderberry Chutney 2 lb. Elderberries, 1 large Onion, 1 pint vinegar, 1 teaspoonful salt, 1 teaspoonful ground ginger, 2 tablespoonsful sugar, 1 saltspoonful cayenne and mixed spices, 1 teaspoonful mustard seed. Stalk, weigh and wash the berries; put them into a pan and bruise with a wooden spoon; chop the onion and add with the rest of the ingredients and vinegar. Bring to the boil and simmer till it becomes thick. Stir well, being careful not to let it burn as it thickens. Put into jars and cover. Another Recipe Rub 1 1/2 lb. of berries through a wire sieve, pound 1 onion, 6 cloves, 1/4 oz. ground ginger, 2 oz. Demerara sugar, 3 oz. stoned raisins, a dust of cayenne and mace, 1 teaspoonful salt and 1 pint vinegar. Put all in an enamelled saucepan and boil with the pulp of the berries for 10 minutes. Take the pan from the fire and let it stand till cold. Put the chutney into jars and cork securely. Elderberry Ketchup 1 pint Elderberries, 1 OZ. shallots, 1 blade mace, 1/2 oz. peppercorns, 1 1/2 OZ. whole ginger, 1 pint vinegar. Pick the berries (which must be ripe) from the stalks, weigh and wash them. Put them into an unglazed crock or jar, pour over the boiling vinegar and leave all night in a cool oven. Next day, strain the liquor from the berries through a cloth tied on to the legs of an inverted chair and put it into a pan, with the peeled and minced shallots, the ginger peeled and cut up small, the mace and peppercorns. Boil for 10 minutes, then put into bottles, dividing the spices among the bottles. Cork well. All parts of the tree - bark, leaves, flowers and berries - have long enjoyed a high reputation in domestic medicine. From the days of Hippocrates, it has been famous for its medicinal properties.

Suzi

What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.

www.onegrp.com/?mamanott organic cosmetics

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[Guest guest]

If you like to forage... I was just in Winona this afternoon and noticed

that the elderberries were about 50 percent ripe - I don't know if the Twin

Cities is a few days behind, being a few hours north, but I might go

foraging this week myself. Parkways and paths along the Mississippi are

good places to look. I usually gather mulberries along the river just below

the U of MN campus, and I did notice elderberry bushes growing there.

--

* J. Elias*

The Professor Coach

http://pronunciationcoach.com/

http://pronunciationcoach.wordpress.com/

[Guest fruitloverlady]

If you like to forage... I was just in Winona this afternoon and noticed

that the elderberries were about 50 percent ripe - I don't know if the Twin

Cities is a few days behind, being a few hours north, but I might go

foraging this week myself. Parkways and paths along the Mississippi are

good places to look. I usually gather mulberries along the river just below

the U of MN campus, and I did notice elderberry bushes growing there.

--

The Professor Coach

So are there a lot of pigeons and birds there too?