The European elderberry

[Eugen]

Here's ramble. There's a type of non-alcoholic cider people have made from the beginnings of time in Europe, from the flowers of the elderberry bush. It looks like this, and these are pictures from the web, not ours.

We grew up looking forward to drinking this in the beginning of the summer, when the Elderberry bush flowers. It's easy to make, it has a unique tasty flavour, and it's very refreshing. Many years have passed and as an adult I again wanted to do this, especially for our kids. In Europe the elderberry bush grows pretty much everywhere, sides of the roads, edges of forested areas, etc. People try to harvest it from places where there is less pollution, of course. A few years ago I noticed not far from us some bushes that looked identical to the elderberry I knew, so I collected some. But the flowers had almost no smell. The elderberry flowers I remembered from my childhood have a definite and quite strong smell. After some searches I learned that there is an American variety of the elderberry bush, which is probably what I found.

The search for the elderberry continued. Three years ago I was biking on my way to work on a small street in a very affluent neighbourhood in Toronto, and saw a big bush that looked like elderberry, right next to a big church. It was late July so the timing seemed right. And it was the European variety, very fragrant. I went inside the church and I talked to the person in charge there, and they told me it would be no problem to take some cuttings, which I did. A total of four short (about one inch) branch ends from the very bottom of the bush which was huge, like 16 feet in diameter. The cuttings were about 3/16 in thick; put them in a big jar with water, and completely forgot about them for about a month. Found a lot of thin roots on all of them. Transferred them to pots for the winter, then put them out in a small area where my wife had some flowers. They grew some new shoots that summer, but nothing crazy. In the fall last year I moved them to another area near the edge of the property where we thought it would be a good spot for them to stay. I didn't think they would survive winter, they were little, and no deep roots.

To my surprise this Spring they sprung with many new shoots, and it's a nice little bush now. Not only, but we also had several flower patties and even made cider twice already. Not much, but enough to get a good taste. The flowers, if left to dry on a paper towel, also makes very very nice herbal tea.

I read that some people wait until they get berries and make something out of that. We never did, so I don't know.

And this ends my ramble about the elderberry bush.

[Eugen]

This is the bush now, and these are the last flowers I just collected. Next year we'll have more.

[JSinMO]

Sounds good. I’m going to have to start looking around here.
What’s the recipe to make your cider?

[Timj]

We have the American elder berry around here. I use to hear people talk about making wine from them. I don't see the amount of them there was when I was a kid. We would pick the berries and my mom would cook them down and make jelly from them.

[Spike188]

At a freinds wedding in England we were treated to elderberry drink as a party favor. Eugen I would not have thought they would survive here. You are working toward a prime piece of real estate in time.

[Eugen]

The recipe for the drink made from flowers is like this. Note that some people make a sort of wine/cider from the berries, but I'm not talking about that.

For every quart of water use three good size flower clusters and 1/10 of water quantity add sugar. Dissolve the sugar in water, and then throw the flowers in. For every quart of water also add 3-4 slices of lemon. We usually peal the lemons. We don't take the small flowers off the cluster stem, it goes all in. We use a large glass jar, and cover it with a paper towel and elastic to keep it in place. Leave it like that for 4-5 days, and stir once in the morning and once at night. People also put it a few hours outside in the sun. I never understood why, by my said this is how we do it so I just shut up

The proportion of sugar, flowers, and lemon can be changed somewhat to taste.

We taste it on the fourth day to see if it's done. It should be brewed a little, but the real time it gets done depends on ambient temperature, of course. Could be done faster in hot days. When it's done it goes in bottles through a strainer, and to the fridge.

[DavidBarkey]

@Eugen
I never understood why, by my said this is how we do it so I just shut up
Quote :
Good answer .
I just do as I am told too . has a rolling pin and I can't tale another head injury .

[propane1]

One thing is for sure. Ya don’t wanna git hit with a marble rollin pin. I feel sorry for the fellas who’s has one of those.


Noel

[propane1]

I seen a flower like that here. Was thinking about that yesterday. And wondered where I saw it. Well, at my sons place today. And that’s where I saw it.

So does this look like it Eugen. I think it’s just a weed. But I’m not an expert at this stuff.


Noel

[Eugen]

Noel, that looks more like Queen Anne's Lace, or wild carrot. The elderberry shrub is more like a tree, look on the side of roads. I can send you twig if you want