We have a bumper crop of elderberries this year. Hefty clusters of the purple-black berries are weighing down the trees so much the branches are bending. The birds love them too but there's plenty for everyone this year. It would be a crime not to do something with them so I'm making elderberry cordial which is reputed to help ward off coughs and colds.
Drip, drip. drip... and everything nearby turns a deep and fetching shade of purple. I put on an apron to protect my clothes - and immediately splash my sleeves. The juice smells richly fruity and I have to leave it to drip now before squeezing all the lovely purpleness out of the bag, mixing it with sugar, boiling for 15 minutes and putting it into bottles.
I am domestically challenged at the best of the times so I've been sitting here wondering how this works. Do you put crush the elderberries in the muslin and then pour hot water through it to strain it?
ReplyDeleteElderberry envy here thanks Mags. I seem to have missed most of the ones here...again. They only seem to last two minutes in Cornwall. Ah well, I shall enjoy yours instead. x
ReplyDeleteHi Kath - you take the elderberries off their stalks, add just enough cold water to cover and then simmer until they are soft (about 20 mins). Then you put them into muslin or jelly bag and leave them to drip.
ReplyDeleteHi Pipany - Yet again evidence that you're two weeks ahead (at least!) in Cornwall. Ours are perfectly ripe now - but we haven't many sloes at all this year.
ReplyDeleteThanks Mags! That makes much more sense than pouring hot water through the muslin while it's hung above the pan. I did tell you I was domestically-challenged! :-/
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