Elderberries?

[redcollective]

New to this foraging caper I consulted my 'food for free' today to positive ID what I am certain are elderberries. What are they good for? I have a recipe for apple pie which mentions adding them but apart from that - nothing.

Questions: Do they taste any good?

And could I possible confuse them with something likely to give me a gut-ache?

What's you favourite elderberry recipe?

 

[weekend_warrior]

New to this foraging caper I consulted my 'food for free' today to positive ID what I am certain are elderberries. What are they good for? I have a recipe for apple pie which mentions adding them but apart from that - nothing.

Questions: Do they taste any good?

And could I possible confuse them with something likely to give me a gut-ache?

What's you favourite elderberry recipe?

Wine!

http://www.red4.co.uk/Recipes/elderberry-wine.htm

EDIT: Just found this link - lots of ideas here..

http://www.patch-work.demon.co.uk/elder.htm

 

[Tantalus]

They taste "wersch" enough to curdle your coffee

Actually they need to be cooked before eating but you wont eat a lot of them raw anyway. Cooking destroys the poisonous oxalic acid. Not exactly drop down dead on the spot poisonous but not good for you in any quantity raw.

Add a nice bit of colour to an apple pie but on their own pretty uninteresting

Tant

 

[troyka]

this tastes good.


Elderberry Syrup
450 g elderberries
1.2 litres boiling water
450 g caster sugar
Crush elderberries and pour over the boiling water. Stir well
and leave to stand for 24 hours, then strain through a fine sieve
or cloth into a saucepan. Stir in the sugar and boil until syrupy,
then store in screw top jars in the frige.

 

[bloodline]

They make a strong wine if you use a yeast with a high alcohol tolerance. As a fruit they go through you like an express train. I remember when I was at school and a load of the kids ate them coz they were a nice colour they were all laid up for the rest of the day and the trees were chopped down.

 

[match]

Elderberries are incredibly rich in Vitamin C and are astringent - making them good for colds and sore throats.

An old cough-syrup - 'Elderberry Rob':

Take 5 sprays of elderberries, strip off the stem with a fork and place in a pan with 2 cups of water and 5 cloves. Bring to the boil and simmer for 15-20 minutes with the lid on, mashing the fruit to extract the juices.

Strain through a fine sieve/muslin and then add 1 cup of brown sugar and reheat and simmer for a further 10 minutes to make a thick syrup. Add a tablespoon or two of spirit (vodka/brandy) to preserve and it will keep for up to 3 months.

Dosage: 1 tablespoon 3-4 times a day whenever your throat is sore - there's no real risk of overdosing on this (cooked elderberries are perfectly tasty and edible) unless you've upped the alcohol measure a bit

 

[Bushpig]

My dad used to have me out picking elderberries for his wine making ventures! Other than wine im sure there is cordial and syrups.

 

[rich59]

Elderberries make a whole range of wines. Some years I have made superb vintages that serious wine drinkers rated highly and wanted more. (Most years the results have been more ordinary.) They used to be used to flavour other alcoholic drinks - espcially mead - see http://www.rabbitsfootmeadery.com/CAGM/guide_to_mead.html . I fairly regularly make both red and white wines from them. I think that individual bushes will produce wines of different character and I have tried making single bush wines to bring out these differences and find the best ones to propagate and grow more of for better wines in the future.

The white wines are made from the rare white elderberry that can be hunted down in the hedgerows if you have a sharp eye to spot them among the black fruiting ones.

The flowers make a superb cordial in the spring.

 

[rich59]

The white wines are made from the rare white elderberry that can be hunted down in the hedgerows if you have a sharp eye to spot them among the black fruiting ones.

Here is a picture of the white elderberry