How to Elderberry

Cake, Medicine, Pie, Syrup

It’s that time of year again - the season of trees bearing bounty for the (gentle) picking. And what a year for it after all that blossom! There was so much elderflower that I had no excuse not to write ‘How to Elderflower’ and even though this piece won’t be as substantial, there’s much to be said about the joy of the elderberry that comes after the flowers and what you can do with them.

Before I go there, however, a reminder that if you like my images, recipes and waffle, please do follow me over on Instagram for live action and ask my permission to use the pictures if you like them please. All pictures unless credited otherwise have been take by me.

Nearly as exciting as picking elderberries, is waiting to pick elderberries. Taking morning, afternoon, and evening strolls to see if they’re ready and trying not to be too impatient. There’s an exact point where they drop all of sudden, hanging like jewels, and become incredibly plump and black and that’s when you know to strike, taking only enough for yourself and leaving plenty for the birds (particularly the robins and pigeons who hold riots among the berries) and the other foragers.

Note, please never eat elderberries directly from the tree as they need cooking to remove toxins, however tempting they look. Go for the blackberries instead if you’re hungry.

I take my scissors and either a basket or bag and find that filling them once is quite enough to be getting on with, swinging it by my side as I walk home admiring dramatic August sunsets.

(Click on the tree pic if you want a) more tree pics and b) some nice poetry about trees).

Often the task of strimming elderberries from their branches (also toxic) can seem a bit daunting but it’s best to get on with it and, actually, if you pull a fork through the stems, they pop off quite nicely and you can fill a bowl quickly. You might like to wash them, though I tend not to. As you fill the bowl, you can pluck out any green or dodgy looking ones and wait for any creepies to come to the surface and carefully rehome them among your plants or out the window. A friend likes to ‘soak’ her elderberries for fifteen minutes in cold water with a tbsp of bicarbonate which also helps things float to the top to skim away.

Once removed from the branches, take a moment to admire the stems. I think they look like cool ribcages or vein networks and the colour is so pretty.

After this, you can get on with preparing your recipe. I don’t follow one but will reference a few below if you want better guidance. I do something different each year. Last year it was elderberry and blackberry brandy with cloves, cinnamon and star anise, and this year it’s elderberry juice with black tea and rose.

I simply put the elderberries into a crock pot, add some water (not too much - probably about half way up the height the berries) and also any flavourings I feel like using. I bring them to a simmer, let this continue for about 15 to 20 minutes and leave it all to soak overnight with the lid on.

Come the morning, I strain the juice through a sieve lined with a muslin cloth or a tea towel and squeeze out as much juice as possible. Watch out. This stuff stains. I then stir through plenty of raw local honey and either bottle it into sterilised vessels or also add a good glug of brandy before putting it in the fridge. Both the sugar and the alcohol will help keep it fresher for longer - I couldn’t say how long though. My brandy from last year is still looking good, though this year’s juice I feel won’t last longer than a month or two and I will probably finish it before then anyway.

More detailed guidance if you don’t like to wing things here:

BBC Good Food >

And Botanica Health has a cool elderberry gummy recipe here that I am totally going to try >

And what next now you have a good supply of juice or syrup?

I like to simply drink a little each morning until it’s used up (yes, even the brandy), though other sources that rate elderberry for its qualities for supporting your immune system suggest taking regular spoonfuls throughout the day when you’re under the weather to restore you to good health - elderberry is a potent source of vitamin C.

If you’re sandwiching a cake with fruit in the middle, you can use a little to cook the fruit in to add intense berry flavour, or even stir some through the buttercream. You could try using some to make an elderberry drizzle cake in the same way as lemon, or adding it to cocktails and drinks.

I quite like the taste of elderberry with meat, so it’s a wonderful addition to gravies or jus or vinaigrette. Pictured below I used it in a pie with pigeon and a suet crust (a story on how it took a city, a village and some long gone people to bake this pie here).

While I mostly like to drink the stuff, I am continuing to play with it as an ingredient. Do you make it too? And what do you do with it? I would love to know if you wanted to add into the comments below.

I will continue to update this piece as and when new ideas emerge, much in the same way as the following pieces that you might also like to read: