elderberries?

Ok so has anyone actually MADE or drank elderberry wine or jam? I planted some bout 6 years ago and forgot them till last summer. Not sure what to do with them at this point. Looking for uses so they don't end up like my chokecherries as bird food.

never made wine, but have consumed a bottle or so good stuff and elderberry jelly is great.

I make Elderberry wine every year. My wife also makes Elderberry jelly. It is my family's favorite. I even gave Paul a jar to sample last week end.

My mom made jelly every year I'm out mom passed away in 07. The berries are on if the birds don't get them... I need to get some jelly made up...

The Wife makes Elderberry jelly every couple years - If you find that it is too tart for you just add a little grape juice in to sweeten it up...Good Stuff.

My wife makes the jelly. My bother used to sell berries to a guy who then sold them for wine making. He bought them much like a fur buyer buys fur. The man has been dead for years and I know of nobody that buys them now--oh well, today's kids probably wouldn't pick them anyway.

Road ditches were full of elderberries this spring. I think the drought might have kilt them as I havent noticed any purple berries. I make wine but will say that it reaches its prime in a couple years (not to say you cant drink it right off) I dont think you are supposed to eat eldererries raw......

google either elderberry wine or jam receipts if not sure. have had some of each and both delic.. tip for wine, add xtra lemon.

My girlfriend makes elderberry jelly and elderberry syrup.

It takes a lot of pectin to make the jelly solidify.

The syrup is good on pancakes and looks a lot like blood.

This year, because of the drought, many of the elderberrys fell off without ripening. I cut off about a bucket and a half of bunches, but we only got 5 half pints of jelly and 5 half pints of syrup.



Keith

We dry ours, and keep them in an airtight glass jar. Mix some in with your pancake mix. It is a real treat. We don't really get enough to make jelly, so we dry them. They are potent and it just takes a tablespoon or two of dried berries to really add to the pancakes. They keep well, too, we have some that we forgot about in the back of the cabinet that were 5 - 6 years old, and still great!

Dave

I made wine, and jelly from the berries. But there is something that is more tasty. I harvest the flowers and I make syrup from it to drink.

you can also make elderflower wine with the bloosums

Also makes excellent pie.

Elderberry wine and jelly are our favorites. We have used cultivated (adams and johns) as well as wild for both. Wild cherries are also excellent, but our favorite use is in making cherry bounce. Apple pie (not the pastry) is good also.

Never had he wine...but the jellys are great!

They do make excellent pie as Tom52 said. I have a huge swampy area that I pick them from. I always pick way more than we care to clean so I give them to family and friends. I always get a piece of pie and sometimes even a whole pie in return. A little old lady of 96 makes the best pie though hands down.