Your kitchen smells of elderberries!

And is covered in deep purple stains.  What do you have to show for it?

Well, elderberry jelly, my new favorite!

Elderberries grow rampant all over the South.  The flowers can be used to make liqueurs, and the berries are often made into wine and jelly.  When my mother-in-law found a huge mess of elderberries growing in her backyard, she cut a ton of berry clusters off the tree in preparation for our arrival.

And we spent the better part of a day making jelly!  I could think of WAY worse ways to fritter away a day (yesterday's massive car breakdown and towing comes to mind).

Mama Bear saved us a step.  A trash bag full of elderberries awaited us.

The three of us stood at the sink, picking berries off of their clusters and sifting out the unripe ones.

We ended up with a large pot of berries.  I had to try a couple.  They were pretty gross... flat-tasting, gritty, dirty.  I was thinking that my father-in-law might very well be insane. 

We took our huge pot of berries and started cooking them. As they began to break down, Mama Bear pulled out a wire masher and started smooshing them.  The smell was... not delicious.  Almost like cooking cabbage.  But the ensuing mess was looking tasty.  The disconnect hurt my brain (and my nose).

After the berries were pretty completely pulverized, the mash was run through a really neat deseeder Mama Bear borrowed from a good friend.  The cone-shaped sieve has long conical wooden insert that you run around the center of the sieve, pushing the berry solids against the holes in the side.  Almost pure juice dripped into our catch-all pot and stained the countertops a rich, deep purple.  I'm sure it would also stain your hair and clothing, which gives me an idea for next year.

And then, we had to take a break for some of Mama Bear's delicious rich buttery crawfish etouffee on a Husbear-made biscuit.  It's almost better this way than on rice.

Back to the jelly!  The juice was still gritty and gross, but we were about to work some chemical magic by adding some pectin, a cubic foot of sugar, and three gallons of lemon juice.  I think.

Then, you bring it to a boil until it foams, and pour the mixture into pre-sterilized jars.

The color is just beautiful, a rich, clear, jewel-toned royal purple.  Once the jelly had cooled, we just had to have it on a biscuit.  I always say "everything's better with an egg," but this day proved that just about everything's better with a biscuit, too.  And I'm not sure an egg would go so well with elderberry jelly.

And no, it didn't taste cabbagey or gritty.  The colorful jelly had a nice tartness and was earthy without tasting like dirt.  I love it.  We stole three jars to take home.

Now, all that's left to do is bleach the entire kitchen. 

Now that we've got the bug, perhaps we'll start making more jellies.  Eh, who am I kidding - with our 20 square foot kitchen?  Knowing my husband, though, I wouldn't be surprised.

By the way, if you've got a ton of elderberries hanging out somewhere in your neighborhood, check out Jeanne's recipe for an elderberry and nectarine crisp over at Cooksister!  They're gone from Louisiana now, I believe, but there's always next year.

Comments

[Albany Jane]

Woah!

I have no clue what elderberries taste like, but I kept seeing them around here, but now I am kind of glad I never just plucked one out of the bushes.

That said, crawfish and jam (separately, although together might not be bad either) on fresh biskies? Yum.

[Boots in the Oven]

Thanks! I do wish it was easier to gt crawfish around here... you can get the frozen Chinese kind, and sometimes live ones when they're in season. In Louisiana you can buy bags of local frozen tails, and they're easy and a great ingredient.

[paul of crazy like whoa]

I'm a mass consumer of elderberry extract in cold and flu season... I'm more than prepared to accept that it's 100% the placebo effect, but it seems to work and the stuff tastes great.

I wonder if eating, like, A LOT of the jam would have the same effect. Cause I'd be totally down to incorporate that into my health regimen...

[Boots in the Oven]

I can't see why it wouldn't work! A jar a day keeps the doctor away. Though there's an awful lot of sugar in the jam, too.

[LaSuprema]

My mamma always called that seive-type contraption a "ricer". I don't know why. I've heard you can use it for mashing potatoes, too. We always used it for making jelly, though. Oh, and y'all can totally accomplish jams in your tiny kitchen. I know you can!

[Boots in the Oven]

LaSuprema, ah! The ricers I've seen look like giant garlic presses that can fit a potato, but since they do the same thing, it makes sense they'd have the same name. Thanks for the info and the vote of confidence!

[We Are Never Full]

what an excellent post. you could also take a bunch of elderberries and dry them to use in the winter in things like sauce or (kind of like what you did) a syrup! love this post!!!

[Boots in the Oven]

Thanks, We Are Never Full - I bet a bunch of dried elderberries would make a pretty decoration, too. I'm glad you like the post!

[Jeanne]

Aaaah, great minds think alike - as you saw, I made an elderberry crisp a couple of weeks ago! I actually didn't mind the taste of the elderberries raw, but they sure do improve with cooking, and tha colour is AWESOME. I'm going to add a link to your jelly to my post :)

[Boots in the Oven]

I did! I think your elderberries mayhave been riper than ours, or maybe a different kind, because these were not tasty on their own. I think the syrup we made (some of the jelly didn't jell) would be great with nectarines in a pie or cobbler, though... and the color certainly is great!

Thanks for linking to us in your post!

[Cooktops]

I would have liked to see more of the crawfish etoufee than the mashed berries. lol

[Boots in the Oven]

They were both yummy! Ooh, and crawfish are coming back into season... yum...

[Hal]

This morning I had some Danish black current jam on my toast, and immediately got a hankering for some of the elderberry jelly that Grandma made when I was growing up. I have never seen it at the grocery store (I'll admit that I haven't made an extensive search), so if anybody knows where I can buy it commercially here in Austin, please send me an email at vendame@hotmail.com. Thanks, Hal.

[Sue Nu]

elderberry season is here again and i see multiple bushes along the road, close to farm land and along railroad tracks. im already planning my jellies, jams, syrups, wines, port wines and drying. im not sure i'll have enough time to go to work. ;)

[Boots in the Oven]

Thanks for the comment! I can't believe how many ways there are to enjoy elderberries.