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Food

elderberries

(11 Posts)
seasider Sun 18-Aug-13 00:16:12

lots of elderberry bushes round our car park at work.last year they were just left on the trees .any ideas what I could make with them?

absent Sun 18-Aug-13 00:59:08

Wine and jam/jelly/conserve for a start.

Ariadne Sun 18-Aug-13 06:30:42

My grandmother used to make elderberry wine - it was rich and dark, like port, but I was too young to try it. It did look good!

Joan Sun 18-Aug-13 08:37:32

Treat them like blackberries, and mix them with apples to make a pie or crumble. Or just wash them and serve them with fresh cream.

I remember the little lasses next door once asked if they could pick some off my tree. I let then get as many as they wanted, they put them in little piles on the hen house roof, then one of them said 'Right, let's have a feeding frenzy' and they did just that!

Joan Sun 18-Aug-13 08:38:33

Oh bugger - I misread this as mulberries!! Ignore previous post, and make your elderberries into wine!!

Aka Sun 18-Aug-13 08:45:10

I'm not sure elderberries should be eaten raw.

Joan Sun 18-Aug-13 09:32:58

No they shouldn't - I had read it as mulberries

HildaW Sun 18-Aug-13 15:09:08

Can remember my Mum making jam from Mulberries....they are rare but we found them in an old park that had been planted up many years ago and then let go. Mulberries are full of pectin and it set like concrete!

Elderberries are best mixed with something like apples as they can be a bit harsh on ones system.

FlicketyB Sun 18-Aug-13 15:45:58

DH has made elderberry wine in the past. It was like the most beautiful rich red wine, a good burgundy for example

Galen Sun 18-Aug-13 15:49:20

I have a black mulberry tree that produces berries if anyone wants to come and pick and use them. I can't get at it any longer. I just leave them for the birds.

merlotgran Sun 18-Aug-13 16:06:07

I have found an eighteenth century recipe for elderberry wine that includes root ginger, raisins and cloves.

Might give this a try.....wine