Elderberry

[ceara]

No idea the purpose of the lime juice.

Sambucus nigra has thermal stable medicinal components with regular cooking. Stability after extraction has not been tested, like hot warehouse storage. Could always freeze or dry the berries until they are needed. But anything you make at home should be OK. The good stuff survives wine fermentation process also.

www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/ncnu07/pdfs/charlebois284-292.pdf

A couple of weeks ago, I bought some Oasis juice that contained Elderberry. The first I've seen of its kind in the grocery stores. It is a mixture of Black Currant, Elderberry and Lemon Juice. It tasted somewhat like Blueberries and had a bit too much Lemon in it for my taste. But I drank it anyway because I had a nasty head cold.

[mnjrutherford]

What was the time range between drinking and a noticeable effect on your cold?

With our kids no longer in the public disease... err... education system... colds are no longer the issue they once were. However, we are having some minor issues with all the floating testos... ummm... pollen...

[ceara]

The carton said up to two small glasses per day. Did not really notice much of a difference in the short term, but it did help the cold go away faster. General reports via the lady at the post office, she said most people she met complained of lingering symptoms for almost two weeks, but mine only lasted a week.

Might try Stinging Nettles, in whichever way you want to take it. Soup, tea, or as an ingredient in casseroles, quiches, etc. I have not yet tried Nettles because it does not grow wild here, but many people say it works wonders for allergies, and hay fever. Wouldn't hurt to try! hehe

[mnjrutherford]

Thanks! Reduced symptom time is almost as good as gone in my book. Perhaps could be dosed as a preventive?

Stinging Nettle grew everywhere in the wild where I lived in California. That was when I didn't have a clue how to use it! It just got in my way when I was picking the wild blackberries.

Now I would give my right arm to have some!!!

Anyone have some seed for me?

[Penny]

I've seen that Oasis juice here too Ceara, going to have to buy some and try it, thanks.

[ceara]

Well I got my two baby Elderberry plants in the mail last week. They are planted out now. They are cuttings I assume and kind of small. But hopefully they will grow fast.

Everyone look up Elderberry "champagne" to make with just the flower heads.

Here's one version to start with. The whole recipe takes about two weeks until drinkable, and is pretty fizzy, so make sure it's in a pressure safe container. A plastic soda/pop/Coke bottle should work good.

www.selfsufficientish.com/elderflowercordial.htm#champagne

I saw it on a video. When the guy opened the bottle it spewed everywhere just like real champagne. hehe

[wildseed57]

For those that have bee hives elderberry flower honey is great and and can bring a good price at health food stores, Along with making a good syrup for teas or flavoring for other herbal mixes, some people make a very good wine from the juice which in itself is very good for you. the long canes where often used to make whisles from them, but you have to make sure that it is not from some of the varieties that will make you sick if you eat the raw berries. I make a great tasting jelly also from it and will add the fresh berries to muffens and pancakes. It makes very good homemade vinegar, I often can havest two or three 5 gallon bucket loads in a very short time, removing the very small stems can be very tricky if you just want the berries. I just freeze the berries and pick out as many of the small stems as I can then I process them for what ever use I want them for, should you ever have to move your bush you will get lots of little shoots that will come up for awhile where you dug up the main plant.
George W.

[ozarklady]

Elderberry Capers:
2 cups unripe elderberries, stems removed.
¼ cup salt
1 cup water
¼ cup sugar
1 cup cider vinegar

1. Wash the berries, drain, place in sterile crock.
2. Dissolve the salt in water, pour over the berries. Cover and let stand for 2 days.
3. Drain berries and pour into sterile half pint jars.
4. Boil sugar and vinegar for 2-3 minutes. Pour into jars (jars should be full to the top) and seal at once.

Makes 2 half-pint jars.

This recipe is from a book, I would recommend you refrigerate these, or after you put the lids on, go ahead and use boiling water canner to insure safety. Just follow any pickle canning guide.

Use these like any other capers in your salads and recipes.

This was a few weeks ago:


And this was last weekend:

Time to start cooking!
And then will be berry time, in a few weeks! But, plenty for both capers and jelly making. We love elderberry syrup for pancakes, it tastes like blueberry to me.
I did test germinate the frozen elderberries, and I could not get them to grow at all.

[wildseed57]

I've not tried to grow them from seeds as they grow every where here in Missouri, so i just go and dig some starts or root some cuttings. We haven't had any rain here and there are very few berries compaired to last year, but I will still have more than enough to freeze, so that I can dry them or make jelly or wine which I might try this year, along with making a heavy syrup from them. If I drink the tea all winter I get very few colds if any and only get one when I run out and don't drink any for awhile. I didn't know you could make capers from the green berries so thats a new one for me. The hardest part for me is removing the very small stems from the berries, and end up leaving quite a bit of stems with the berries, which isn't recomended, but I have had no ill effect from them, so I guess maybe I have cleaned them enough. Has anyone come up with a good easy way to remove all the stems from the Berries?
George

[mjc]

Jun 28, 2010 15:27:13 GMT -5 wildseed57 said:

Has anyone come up with a good easy way to remove all the stems from the Berries?
George

Yeah, get a bucket of ice cream (the good stuff) and tell the kids they can't have any until the berries are done...

[ozarklady]

I use a comb!
I find a large one, at the store, and get it.
This is my cooking comb. Then, I just wash off the berries, and start combing.
It is easier to comb out the green berries, than once they are ripe.
I still get some stems in them, and they haven't killed us yet!
But, combing is easiest way!

[cornishwoman]

Thanks to MJC I have 5 wee elderberry trees growing,they did ok in the flood waters,they sat under water for almost a week.All I could see of them was the bamboo sticks I used to hold the chicken wire cages in place.

[cornishwoman]

there they are.

[ozarklady]

I had issues with the electric company killing off my elderberries, remember?
Well, they didn't get the roots! ha ha
I have more elderberry babies, than I had big ones before, of course, they won't produce this year, but the herbicide, and then the clean up crew, and all... has actually spread and increased my elderberries. And now without competition, the elderberries are going nuts!

I may actually have to thin out the elderberries if they keep popping up like they are!

[ceara]

Well the two Elderberry I purchased died. Got a refund easily but now back to square one. LOL