Three types of elder are native to us, two of which - the black and the red elder - can also be used in the kitchen. However, you should not eat the berries raw because they contain the toxic glycoside sambunigrin. However, this can be removed by cooking, allowing you to fully enjoy the flavor and health benefits of elderberries.
Red elder should not be eaten raw
Remove seeds before processing
Although the unripe berries of both black and red elderberries are poisonous, there is one big difference: the toxic ingredients in black elderberries dissolve completely when cooked, but not in the red ones. The seeds still contain toxins, while the pulp is edible. Because of this, you need to remove the seeds from the elderberry, which is best done by juicing. There are two ways to do this:
- Juicing with a (steam) juicer
- Juicing like in great-grandmother's time
How to juice red elderberry without a juicer
If you don't have a juicer, here's how to get that coveted elderberry juice:
- Fill a large saucepan with about a hand's breadth of water.
- This is where the sorted (only use ripe fruits!) and washed berries go.
- You can also add a little sugar, but it is not necessary.
- Cook the berries until they burst.
- You can also help with a fork.
- Hang a fine cloth or sieve over a bowl or similar.
- and let the elderberry juice drip in there overnight.
- The poisonous seeds remain in the cloth.
Mix red elderberry with other fruit
However, the taste of red elderberry is not for everyone. Berries and juice - and thus jellies made from them - taste very tart, similar to cranberries. However, you can tone down the flavor by adding equal parts redcurrant juice, raspberry juice, or apple juice to make the jelly. Red elderberry jelly tastes great on bread, but also goes well with meat and cheese dishes.
Basic recipe for red elderberry jelly
To make Red Elderberry Jelly you will need:
1 liter juice (either pure or mixed with other juices)
1 kilogram of sugar
the juice of two lemons
It makes sense to add lemon juice as it improves the gelling ability. Elderberry generally gels with great difficulty. Boil the juice and sugar until the sugar has dissolved and the hot juice gels on the spoon. Now fill the still hot jelly into jars with screw caps, close them tightly and turn them upside down.
tips
The jelly also tastes very good with 1 liter of elderberry juice and 300 milliliters of dry red wine as well as some vanilla, cinnamon and cloves.