Have you ever canned some elderberries and then realized you had worms in a jar? And being one not to care too much about worms, you weren't really worried about it? But then you saw the worms were in all your jars? And so you decided to open up all the jars to drain the juice for jelly, leaving the worms and berries for compost? Yeah, what a rip.
In a rush of foraging for the final ripe elderberries in the area, Intimidating Minnow and I made the rounds of the countryside one morning, stopping and cutting elderberries in between eating chocolate in his truck and being concerned we were too late for the beautiful but laborious berries. We weren't too late, but dang we cut it close!
We got about 15 pounds. 5 pounds went towards me canning, about 5 pounds went to making elderberry juice for wine (boiled with just enough water to almost cover, mash, drain...you end up with 4 pounds juice) and the last bunch went to a friend who lives out by the lake.
So after seeing the worms in my jars that I can canned, I drained and kept only the juice. I had 4 cups of juice exactly...the perfect amount for making a batch of jelly, whew! Same process as all the other jelly I have posted about. But this stuff is so rich and dark...isn't it cool? And it has a deeper, sweeter flavor than any other jelly I've made.
Now I have the equivalent of 6.5 half-pints of jelly (mostly barter jelly) and a little bit for the fridge that will be eaten this week.
Image credit: Cale Ruiz
In a rush of foraging for the final ripe elderberries in the area, Intimidating Minnow and I made the rounds of the countryside one morning, stopping and cutting elderberries in between eating chocolate in his truck and being concerned we were too late for the beautiful but laborious berries. We weren't too late, but dang we cut it close!
We got about 15 pounds. 5 pounds went towards me canning, about 5 pounds went to making elderberry juice for wine (boiled with just enough water to almost cover, mash, drain...you end up with 4 pounds juice) and the last bunch went to a friend who lives out by the lake.
So after seeing the worms in my jars that I can canned, I drained and kept only the juice. I had 4 cups of juice exactly...the perfect amount for making a batch of jelly, whew! Same process as all the other jelly I have posted about. But this stuff is so rich and dark...isn't it cool? And it has a deeper, sweeter flavor than any other jelly I've made.
Now I have the equivalent of 6.5 half-pints of jelly (mostly barter jelly) and a little bit for the fridge that will be eaten this week.
Image credit: Cale Ruiz