BLUE ELDERBERRIES (Sambucus caerulea) are a common sight along the river canyons on the dry side of the Cascades in eastern Washington and Oregon.
While easy to pick, the real work begins at home with the processing. Because the leaves, stems, bark, and roots of elderberries are toxic, you must be sure to remove any non-berry debris before cooking. The stems in particular require attention. As you pull off the berries, try to remove as many of the tag-along stems as possible.
Elderberry Syrup
For my syrup I hewed to the simple and direct. I added enough water to the pot of berries so that they were swimming but not entirely covered. After bringing the berry-water mixture to a boil I let it simmer for 30 minutes, periodically working it with a potato masher. This got dumped into a food mill and cranked, removing the skins, and then strained once more to oust the seeds.
The resulting 4 cups of juice went back into the pot with 2 1/2 cups of sugar, half a packet of pectin, and the juice of 1 small lemon. I brought it to a boil, killed the heat, and stirred until the foam was gone, then ladled into jars to be processed in a hot water bath for 10 minutes.
Two of the main considerations are sweetness and viscosity. For thicker syrup, use less water and cook down. Add sugar to taste. Pectin isn’t necessary.
Langdon,
I’m not a forager though I might like to be. I can’t seem to get past my hesitance that something might be poisonous or toxic. For example, I think I have elder berry growing in my yard. I was finally excited to maybe try harvesting something wild, then I saw your comment about the stems, leaves, etc, of elderberry being toxic. Is that a common leap that people have to make — trusting themselves to get it right?
Colette – Discretion is certainly the better part of valor in the world of foraging. It’s best to know exactly what you’re eating before you eat it. That said, it’s not hard to learn. With elderberries, as long as you take the time to remove stems and other debris that tags along, then cook your catch, you’ll be fine. People all over the world have been making elderberry syrups, jams, cordials, etc for centuries, so try to overcome the intimidation factor and enjoy a delicious treat from the wild.
I love to use elderberry syrup in a little champagne.
I use a Finnish steam juicer on my elderberries so I don’t have to pick stems and strain seeds. Just picked a couple of large sacks of them yesterday. To be processed today. My previous post: http://skagitfoodshed.wordpress.com/2007/10/16/vitamin-c-for-the-winter/
Don’t forget to return to your patch in the spring for flowers! Elderflower cordial is lovely with a little Prosecco and a few drops of Peychaud bitters (I call this cocktail the “caddisfly nymph”). Plus you use it to make a nice salve for bee stings and nettle bites.
Are there any plants that are easily confused with blue elderberry? Like Colette, I’m a bit paranoid (and I have a bit of a botany background even!). I also have access to HUGE elderberry bushes… I just want to get it right.
My family makes Elderberry Jelly and it is delicious. We use a juicer to get elderberry juice, which can be canned up to make jelly now or at a later date.
I did not know the stems, leaves, etc. are toxic. Glad you mentioned it. Will be sure to keep them out of the steamer, but we have had the stems and a couple leaves in there before and not had any problems. They get strained out, but I imagine they could be an issue if left in the juicer. So…no more stems and leaves.
Thank you so much for this article.
One trick to share. To easily remove those little stems from elderberry, huckleberry, blueberry, etc.
Just place your berries in the freezer for just a bit (30 minutes or so). They should be slightly hard. Then roll them across a clean kitchen towel (no fuzzy towels) and the stems stick to the towel and removes the majority of them quickly and easily.
How about the RED elderberries that are all over NW Oregon? I have been trying to find out if I can use them, but the info on the web is so conflicting! From OSU I was informed I could use them after cooking. But many other foraging sites I found say “NO! don’t use them! They are poisonous!” Now I’m just confused…
Do you have any experience using the RED elderberries? (S. racemosa).
Farmer Lady – I haven’t used red elderberries for precisely the same reasons you list. Hearsay suggests it’s possible to cook out any toxins in jellies or jams, but without a definitive authority on he subject I’m hesitant to experiment, especially when delicious blues are only a hop over the mountains away.