My bob Gordon elderberries seem to excell on the size of their flower heads. Have one that measured over 20" across!
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Bird planted native, about three years old. I cut it back for the first time this winter and I’m very happy with how it responded. The child in front is 5 foot tall.
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Some berries on some plants getting close. I thought this was early, so looked back at pictures and I think my plants are ripening 1-2 weeks ahead of last year. I’m eager to make syrup again.
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Is there anything wild that resembles elderberry that is harmful? We seem to have a big patch of them, but I wasn’t sure that was what they are. Instructions how to make syrup or jelly? What else can one use them for? Am I correct that they are harmful if eaten raw?
Yes, raw elderberries can make you sick, they contain cyanogenic glycosides that break down with cooking. Syrup and jelly are the classic uses. For ID, the main lookalike to watch out for is water hemlock which has similar looking flower clusters but the leaf shape is completely different. Elderberry leaves are compound with serrated leaflets in opposite pairs. If the berries hang in heavy drooping clusters and the stems have a pithy centre when you snap them, you almost certainly have elderberry.
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Just the first of elderberries of both johns and bob gordon. Froze them stripped the fruit from the stem and boiled them in just enough water to cover them.
Very disappointed with the taste of the juice. It has no sweetness, no tartness, and tastes like I boiled grass. The fresh berries tasted almost passable and were sweet with a little watermelon taste.
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Did you skim off the floaters, debris and disregard them prior to boil?
I skimmed off the shriveled berries and stems, but not the other berries that looked fine that floated. Would that be the cause?
I made it into syrup with a lot of sugar and a little citric acid, and that made it a lot better and was able to taste the elderberry flavor, but it still had some grassiness in it.
Doesn’t look very dark, but is a whole lot darker than the picture of the juice.
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Personally, I don’t think they are a good tasting berry or really a berry anyone eats for the flavor. But, I would love to be proven wrong. What was your intended use for the juice/syrup?
I use them exclusively to make syrup that my family uses as a (likely) immune booster. I reduce the elderberries further than you went and put fresh ginger and cinnamon stick in the pot. I find it helps to start with less water (about equal parts berries:water) and then slowly add more water as it goes. I’ll also mash the berries in the pot maybe twice. I reduce for about an hour until I have an inky dark, thick reduction. Then I strain it, mashing out the berries again, and cool it, then add a little (only 1-2T per cup of berries) raw honey.
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Throwing away the skins/excess from making syrups has been bothering me, but I’ve never found time to experiment until today. I made fruit leather with the excess from syrup I made this week. High speed blender (seeds skins and all) with blueberries and blended until smooth and kids liked flavor. Aside from over drying it, it’s a win. Will try adding cherries next time.
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I’ll second the massive reduction advice. I put about 2-3 gallons of frozen cymes in a pot, add only a few cups of water, then boil and mash for about 45 min with the lid on to steam. Then I pour thru a strainer / cheesecloth and boil the juice down until it’s reduced by at least half. Add equal volume of sugar as I have juice plus about a tablespoon of lemon juice per pint (maybe cup?) of syrup. I end up with only one or two pints of syrup per gallon bag of frozen berries. It cans really well and won’t mold at low pH and high specific gravity this way. The low sugar recipes just don’t seem to keep. I make it sometimes spiced, sometimes not. I like it spiced a bit better.
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I agree. Mine does not keep well. It starts to ferment rather quickly and does mold by a month. But, we almost always have used it up before then since I only keep about 4oz in fridge at a time. I have been freezing the reduction (pre honey) in the amounts I need it since maybe @steveb4 suggested.
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Great bract. Sadly my lone plant is young and didn’t pollenate as fully as yours. Birds and rodents have been ravenous this year anyhow so i doubt id get much off of them even if they did. I just want syrup before cold season rolls back in!
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impressive! marge grows big berries like that. my johns has gone nuts this year after a big haircut then fertilizing w/ some 10-10-10. its 15’ x 15’. id bet theres near 30 big 14in.cymes on it. that one bush produces more than the other 4 combined but my marges are only on their 3rd year from a cutting. 10ft. is my biggest one. theyre catching up fast. marge stands out as the leaves are a lot lighter than the other variaties.
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do you boil the cymes whole or knock the berries off in a 5gal bucket? ive read that the stems cause the juice to be bitter but even knocking them off frozen in a bucket, some small stems get in. i use my euro juicer to juice them then the left overs go to the chics. they love it.
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