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how to eat and drink

Elderberries are especially high in Vitamin C, calcium, potassium and iron content, and have a tart, rich flavor. Usually they are cooked into jelly, pie, vinegar or made into wine although some people like to eat them right off the bush when they're completely ripe. They're rather seedy, but the seed is edible.

They can be used much in the same way as blueberries. We freeze them, dry packed, in plastic bags, and add a handful to pancake or muffin batter. We also freeze a juice concentrate and throughout the winter drink it "straight" on the rocks, or dilute it with a bit of water, club soda, or orange juice.

elderberry juice

Prepare the berries as for jelly, by removing large stems from ripe elderberries. Crush them in a saucepan and place over low heat until the juice begins to flow. Simmer gently for about 15 minutes. (Add a small amount of water if you want a less concentrated juice.) Strain it through a jelly bag. If you wish, add honey to taste, and perhaps a bit of lemon juice. Chill, and either use right away or squirrel into the freezer.

elderberry muffins

2/3 cup honey )
2 ½ tablespoons shortening ) cream together
3 cups flour )
2 tsp. baking powder ) sift together and set aside
pinch of salt )
1 egg - add to creamed mixture
1 cup milk - add to creamed mixture alternately with dry ingredients
1 cup elderberries - add to batter

Pour into greased muffin tins (yield 12 muffins), and bake in 350 degree oven approximately 20 minutes.

elderberry pie

1 cup sour cream )
2/3 cup honey ) mix together
2 tablespoons flour )
2 cups elderberries, all stems remove. Add to mixture. Place filling in 9" piecrust, add top crust, and bake at 400 degrees for 30 - 40 minutes.

the flower

The flowers of the elder may be used for such diversities as champagne, pickles, wine, jam, vinegar, strewn in salads, and dried for teas. To date, we've sampled them only in "blow" and fritters, and found both delicious.

Elderberry blow

Place a couple of blossom clusters in a gallon of cold water in a glass jar. Add one lemon, cut into 4 pieces, 2 tbsp. vinegar, and 2/3 lb. of honey. Set the concoction in hot sun for a day, joggling it occasionally as you walk by. Strain, bottle, and use in about 3 weeks, chilled, over ice.

Elderberry fritters

Make a batter: ½ cup flour, ½ cup milk, 1 egg, ½ tsp. honey, ¼ tsp. salt. Holding the stem, dip the flower into the batter and fry in deep, hot fat until light brown. Sprinkle with cinnamon and honey. A favorite delicacy for tea in some parts of Germany.

from Graham Dodds, Chef de Cuisine, Shelburne Farms, Shelburne, Vermont

iced tea and elderberry sorbet

2 cups iced tea

2 cups elderberry juice

¾ cup raw honey

1 lemon, juiced

Combine and turn in ice cream machine until frozen. 

orange blossom honey spiced hazelnuts

1 Tablespoon garam masala spice blend

1 cup hazenuts, toasted and shelled

½ cup honey

1 teaspoon cayenne powder

salt to taste

In sauté pan, toast spices over low heat for 30 seconds.  Add honey and caramelize until brown.  Add nuts, cayenne powder, garam masala, and salt.  Mix well, stirring often while cooling.

½ cup elderberry juice

¼ cup sherry vinegar

½ cup olive oil

¼ cup basil leaves

1 shallot

salt and pepper to taste

Puree shallot with sherry vinegar and elderberry juice in blender.  Drizzle in oil slowly.  Add basil leaves and salt and pepper to taste.

1 cinnamon stick

1 small Vidalia onion, minced

1-1/2” piece of ginger root, minced

6 peaches, diced

½ cup elderberry juice

¼ cup raw honey

2 Tablespoons rice wine vinegar

olive oil as needed

Heat olive oil in small saucepan over medium heat.  Add onion and sauté slightly.  Add cinnamon stick, ginger, peaches, and elderberry juice.  Add vinegar and cook for 5 minutes.  Take off heat and let cool slightly before adding raw honey. 

Elderberry Mead  by Sam Comfort 25 lbs. elderberries 5 lbs. Apitherapy Raw Honey 1 cup concentrated lemon juice 1 packet of brewer's of baker's yeast optional: ground cloves, ginger, other spices to taste

Bring all of the elderberries to a boil, then strain in a collinder and squeeze to get the most juice possible into a five gallon bucket.  Add honey and lemon juice.  Let juice reach body temperature.  Dissolve yeast into a cup of warm water and add to juice.  Stir with a wooden spoon or your hand.  Do not let the fermenting juice touch metal.  Taste in 6 weeks - time depends on temperature.  Can be put into glass jars at this time without tightening lids. 
Makes about 2.5 gallons.

natural remedy for strep throat from P. Priest in northern New York

1 Tbsp. raw honey
1/8 to 1/2 cayenne pepper
4 cloves of crushed garlic

Take 1/2 to 1 tsp. of this mixture every hour of day, and don't chase it
with any liquid - this gets rid of strep throat in 24-48 hours.
(I've used this recipe myself in lieu of antibiotics and it works).

I like finding these old, tried and true recipes - they seem to always
include honey along with the herbs, and sometimes apple cider vinegar.

dulse recipes

Dulse can be torn up and added to salads and stir fries.  It can also be roasted at 200 F. degrees until crunchy and eaten like chips or crumbled and used as a condiment.  Dulse is very good added to sautéed greens and garlic.

At the honey house, we munch on it as a snack throughout the day.  It is like a vegetarian jerky with lots of trace minerals and vitamins. Using dulse will curb your desire to grab candy bars and other junk food.

A wonderful chowder can be made using sautéed onions, diced turnips, celery, dulse, and soymilk or milk. Use clams, clam juice, or fish.  Arrowroot can be used to thicken the chowder.

Kelp recipes by Larch Hanson of Maine Seaweed Co.

Use digitata kelp in any recipe that calls for kombu.  This is the Atlantic equivalent.  Digiata retains its own nature, throughout the seasons, in the face of constantly surging turf, harsh summer sun, and snail pests.  I’ve come to appreciate this plant’s tenacity and flexibility, after having been driven out of its natural habitat, many times.  It truly endures and thrives, in a zone I call “stressful”.

Well developed plants are mucilaginous with sodium alginate, giving a silky quality and a distinctive taste to soup stocks.  Digitata kelp gives a round mellow flavor to bean dishes and makes them more easily digested.

Soak 1 cup of beans overnight with a 2 x 3” piece of digitata.  Pressure cook 1 hour or simmer all day, adding seasonal vegetables when beans are soft.  Try burdock, carrots, celeriac, shitake mushrooms, onion, celery, Italian parsley.  Season with sea salt, miso, or tamari.

For a hearty late fall baked dish, cover the bottom of a casserole with digitata squares, then a layer of Jerusalem artichoke slices, and finally one of carrot wedges.  Bake in a 350 degree oven until thoroughly soft and sweet – 1 ½ to 2 hours.  Season lightly with tamari or mellow miso.  Variation: use onions, carrots, squash, thyme, and tamari.

Digitata may be roasted in a 200 degree oven until crisp.  Use this as a chip or grind this as a flaked condiment.

A summer pickle with digitata and garden vegetables is visually and sensorially striking.  Parboil 1” squares of digitata 20 minutes.  Drain and cool.  Meanwhile, prepare equal quantities of thin onion half-moons, carrot ovals, green pepper squares, and cauliflower flowrettes.  Arrange the five vegetables in a wide mouth glass jar.  Bring to a boil the five quarts of water with 1/3 cup salt.  Let cool completely before pouring over assorted vegetables.  Put a smaller jar on top of the vegetable pieces to keep them fully submerged.  Cover with a clean cotton cloth to allow pickle to breathe but keep out dust.  Check in 10-14 days.