Elderberry Recipes

Elderberry berries photo by Gary Houston, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

By Susan Belsinger

Elderberry Juice

By cooking down freshly harvested or frozen elderberries with just a little water, and allowing the contents to cool, the concentrated juice can be extracted from the berries and the juice will be ready to use in recipes, or frozen for a future use. This juice concentrate can be the base of many recipes from jams and jellies, shrubs, syrups, cordials, and much more. It must be refrigerated and used within 24 to 48 hours or frozen (for up to 6 months). Or process in a boiling hot water bath in canning jars: pints for 20 minutes and quarts for 30 minutes. Here is a recipe for extracting the juice using 6 cups of berries—it is easily multiplied or divided—depending on the quantity of berries you have. Makes about 2 cups of juice

Ingredients:

6 cups stemmed elderberries or 2 cups dried elderberries

1 cup water

In a non-reactive saucepan, combine the berries and water and place, cover and place over medium heat. Bring the berries and water to boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat and simmer for about 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat, set the lid askew and let cool to room temperature.

The berries and water will have cooked down to between 2 1/2 to 3 cups. Once cooled, strain the juice through a strainer lined with cheesecloth. Squeeze the contents gently to extract all of the essence. There should be about 2 cups; you can add a little water to equal 2 cups if need be for a recipe. Use in a recipe or process in canning jars in a boiling water bath immediately.

Elderberry Syrup

Prepare the juice above to make this syrup. It can be made in smaller or larger quantities. I do not make large quantities; if you do, it will need to be refrigerated (for up to two weeks) or it is best to process it in canning jars in a boiling water bath and it will keep for up to 1 year. This syrup has so many wonderful uses. I use it straight by the teaspoonful for the symptoms of cold, flu, cough. I use it as the base for cordials and shrubs. It makes a delicious natural soda with sparkling water, combines well in punches, cocktails, with tea or lemonade, as a syrup for pancakes and waffles, drizzle over cakes and fruit, as a base or topping for ice cream. Note: sometimes I prepare this with pure maple syrup, which is yummy; it will be thinner than syrup prepared with honey. Makes 1 quart of syrup

Ingredients:

2 cups elderberry juice

2 cups local honey

In a deep bowl, combine the juice and the honey with a whisk. Take your time to combine it so it doesn’t slosh out of the bowl. Pour the syrup into a jar, label, and store in refrigerator for two weeks or process in canning jars in a boiling water bath: half-pints for 10 minutes and pints for 15 minutes. Be sure that they have sealed; if not refrigerate and use within two weeks.

Elderberry Shrub with Honey

This recipe is excerpted from the creative herbal home, Susan Belsinger and Tina Marie Wilcox, herbspirit, 2007. We have been preparing elderberry shrub for years with only beneficial effects. Awhile back, we found out that elderberries should always be cooked before being eaten to avoid the possibility of ingesting unripe berries. Unripe berries contain prussic acid that causes cyanide poisoning if the berries are not cooked first before being consumed. http://www.herbalsafety.utep.edu/herbs-pdfs/blackelder.pdf. In the past, we made shrub without cooking the berries. We select only the ripe berries and carefully remove them from the stems before adding them to the vinegar. However, to be safe, we recommend that you bring your vinegar to a simmer and pour it over the elderberries, then proceed with the recipe. 

Recipes for shrubs, also referred to as “switchel” and “beveridge” vary greatly and date as far back as pre-colonial times. Shrubs can be made with sweetened fruit juice, fruit, vinegar, honey or sugar. Some suggest adding spirits such as rum or brandy to the shrub. We have never used spirits to make our shrubs but find the idea seductive.  

Generally shrubs are sipped from a cordial glass, poured over ice, or served with a bit of sparkling water. They are a wonderful remedy for congestion, sore throat, and an excellent tonic for the body. They tend to make us perspire when we drink them. Of course, we choose elderberries for this shrub, however, you may substitute other berries such as blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, currants, gooseberries, or a combination thereof.  Makes about 2 quarts

Ingredients:

2 cups ripe elderberries

1 quart apple cider vinegar

1 quart honey

Wash and pick over the berries. Put the berries in a non-reactive pan. Pour the vinegar over the berries, cover and bring to a low simmer. Remove from heat and let stand until room temperature. Transfer the contents of the pan into a clean, canning jar and cap with a lid. Let stand two to four weeks; we shake our shrub daily.  

Mash the fruit vinegar and strain through cheesecloth or muslin. Add the honey and blend well. Bottle in dark glass, sterilized jars with non-metal lids. Label contents in bottle; keep out of reach of children.

Store in a cool dark place. We have never known of shrub to go bad in storage however, it will do the body more good if it is used rather than stored. Use it within one year.

Source: Susan Belsinger ©2013 Elder, Herb of the Year 2013™ See more at: https://susanbelsinger.com/

and on the Elderberry episode of the GardenDC Podcast at: https://washingtongardener.blogspot.com/2024/02/gardendc-podcast-episode-183-elderberry.html

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Elderberry marmalade image by saponifier, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

TikTok Tuesday: Zucchini Bread

@wdcgardener

Zucchini grown in our garden plot transferred into a delicious bread - yum! ##gardendc ##growyourownfood ##zucchini ##zucchinibread ##gardenrecipe ##dmv

♬ original sound - Kathy Jentz

By Molly Cuddy

This past week, I tried making zucchini bread for the first time! I got this large zucchini from our community garden plot. (It was way more zucchini than I needed for this recipe!) Since I love to bake, I knew I had to make zucchini bread. My good friend Casey sent me her recipe. I’ve been making her banana bread recipe for over a year now, so I knew I could trust her zucchini bread one too! 

Casey’s recipes made two loaves of bread. I only wanted to make one, so I adjusted the recipe a bit. Here’s what I used:

• 1.5 cups of shredded zucchini
• 2 eggs
• 1.5 cups of all-purpose flour
• ½ vegetable oil
• about 2 ¾ cup of white sugar
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon of baking soda
• ½ teaspoon of baking powder
• ½ teaspoon of salt
• about a teaspoon of cinnamon
• chocolate chips (if you want!)

Right as I got ready to make the bread, I realized our apartment baking soda had gone missing! I couldn’t find it anywhere. So I just added more baking powder and hoped for the best. I think it still came out great for my first try! It’s super flavorful and moist. I love having a piece for dessert or with a cup of coffee. 

Washington Gardener's editor, Kathy, also sent me her favorite recipe for chocolate zucchini bread and that looks super good as well, I just didn’t have any cocoa powder on hand this time to make it.

Check out my TikTok video here on my process of making the bread.

About the Author

Molly Cuddy is a journalism major at the University of Maryland, College Park, and an intern this summer with Washington Gardener. She is also a campus tour guide and will be a teaching assistant for a professional writing class next semester.

TikTok Tuesday: Wilted Swiss Chard with Garlic

@wdcgardener

Harvesting Swiss Chard from the garden and preparing it wilted with garlic and shallots. ##gardendc ##garden101 ##recipe ##swisschard ##eathealthy

♬ original sound - Kathy Jentz

By Molly Cuddy

We harvested swiss chard from the garden yesterday and I wanted to make something simple, but flavorful. I had never had Swiss chard before, so I didn’t want to make anything that would mask its flavor, but instead compliment it. I found this recipe, which is an easy and quick one you can pair with any protein. I had just got home from work when I whipped this up, and it took less than 10 minutes to make, which is perfect after a long day. I also already had all of the ingredients on hand, and I’m sure you probably do too!

I made it for myself, so this recipe serves one. I added my own spin to it as well, so here’s my take on the recipe:

• About 2 whole Swiss chard leaves (they’re huge, if you’ve never seen them, so this is plenty!)

• 2 cloves of garlic 

• Olive oil

• Half a shallot

• Red pepper flakes (a lot of them if you like it spicy)

• Salt to taste

I cut the swiss chard leaves into more manageable strips and sautéed them with the garlic, shallots, and olive oil for about 5 minutes until the Swiss chard was wilted. You can see my exact steps for this recipe in the TikTok video posted here. 

If I make this again, I would use less garlic and shallot or add another Swiss chard leaf.

It was truly the perfect simple side dish and had so much flavor! I love garlic and spice, so if you do too, definitely try out this recipe for yourself.

About the Author

Molly Cuddy is a journalism major at the University of Maryland, College Park, and an intern this summer with Washington Gardener. She is also a campus tour guide and will be a teaching assistant for a professional writing class next semester.

TikTok Tuesday: Lavender Simple Syrup Used Two Ways

By Molly Cuddy

This week, I decided to make a lavender syrup using lavender from the home garden of Washington Gardener's editor, Kathy Jentz. I have been seeing these trendy lavender oat milk lattes everywhere on the internet, and I wanted to try and recreate the drink myself at home.

 

Lavender simple syrup
Photo by Khloe Quill

In this week’s TikTok video, I show myself making homemade lavender simple syrup and demonstrating how I made the coffee drink. The syrup was super simple (probably why they call it a "simple syrup," now that I think about it): just water, sugar, and the sprigs of lavender. 

I don’t have an espresso machine at my apartment, so I just used normal brewed coffee, which still turned out great. I put in oat milk, the lavender syrup, and also a hint of vanilla syrup which I figured would pair well with the lavender.

 

I liked the drink a lot! I was skeptical that I would like it since I haven’t used lavender in many foods before, but I definitely will be trying more foods and drinks with lavender now. It was super earthy, and the lavender paired so well with the bold coffee taste and creaminess of the oat milk.

If coffee mixed with lavender doesn’t sound like your thing, you’re in luck, because we have another recipe using lavender this week. I got in contact with last semester’s Washington Gardener intern, Khloe Quill, who also recently made lavender syrup to make a lavender lemonade for the Fourth of July. She even made freshly squeezed lemonade! She used this recipe, which makes a delicious and gorgeous-looking drink, perfect for any summer barbeques or garden parties you may have.

As always, let us know if you try either of these recipes using lavender from your own garden.

About the Author

Molly Cuddy is a journalism major at the University of Maryland, College Park, and an intern this summer with Washington Gardener. She is also a campus tour guide and will be a teaching assistant for a professional writing class next semester.

DIY: Violet Syrup

Early spring is the perfect time to get out and forage for edible flowers. Wild Violets are easy to identify and collect. (See more about growing Wild Violets here.)  You can eat both their flowers and foliage. For the purposes of this recipe, collect just the flowers.

The taste of these Wild Violet syrup is like a light grape juice. It can be used as a flavor syrup in a SodaStream or as a flavoring for a cocktail or mocktail. You can also use it in baking recipes that call for light simple syrups.

It can take a few hours to collect enough of these tiny violets to make a whole cup, so if you can get a 1/4 up or 1/2 cup just adjust the recipe proportions accordingly. Basically, it is one part violets to one part water to one part sugar.

Level: easy   Cost: inexpensive   Use: edible/gift

Materials:

- 1 cup Wild Violet flowers

- 1 cup+ water

- 1 cup sugar

- a few drops of lemon juice

- food coloring (optional)

- a glass jar with lid

Step 1: Collect the wild violets. Look for them off the beaten path and not in areas where dogs do their business and chemicals are sprayed.

Step 2: Select a large glass jar with a lid. (I cleaned out an old pickle jar.) Place the violets inside and pour in 1 cup of boiling water. Let sit out on a counter overnight to steep.

Step 3: The next day, shake it up and scoop or strain out the violets. Press the violets against the lid or strainer to extract further juice and flavor from them. Discard the used violets in your compost.

Step 4: Add a cup of sugar and then more hot water up to just below the top of the jar. Close the lid tightly and shake it vigorously to blend in the sugar.

Step 5: The syrup is done, but will not look purple. To get the nice lavender color, add a few drops of lemon juice.

Step 6: I wanted a deeper purple color, so I added a few drops of red and blue food coloring and stirred it up.

Step 7: Allow to cool and then label it. Use it in drink and baking recipes as desired. Store in the refrigerator.

Tips and Care:

• This same recipe can be followed to make a flavor syrup from other edible flowers such as roses or lilacs.
• It can store for up to two weeks in the refrigerator.
• This syrup has health benefits such as being high in vitamin C and A.
• You can pour some into little bottles and tie a ribbon on each to give them out as a pretty gift.
• If you use an alternative sweetener, like honey or brown sugar this will effect the color and it may not look as clear or deep purple.
  
  

This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a few pennies from Amazon.

This is a monthly blog series on DIY projects for the beginning home gardener. Look for the other installments in this DIY blog series by putting "DIY" in the search box here at washingtongardener.blogspot.com. 

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Savory Sunday: Roasted Beets

By Anastazja Kolodziej

While rummaging through the fridge a few weeks ago, I noticed I still have some beets that we harvested from the community garden plot. I’ve already made soup and warm tortellini salad with the beets and beet greens, so for this recipe, I’ve kept it simple: roasted beets. 

Ingredients: 

·    Beets, peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces

·    Olive oil

·    Salt

·    Pepper

Steps:

·    Heat the oven to 420 degrees.

·    Arrange the cut beets in a baking sheet or dish and toss with oil, salt, and pepper. 

·    Roast for 30 minutes or until soft and tender. Serve immediately. 

This is my final post for this column as I wrap up my internship with Washington Gardener for this summer. Thank you all for reading!

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"Savory Sunday" is a weekly summer blog series with seasonal recipes from the garden.

About the Author:

 Anastazja Kolodziej is a rising senior at the University of Maryland, double majoring in multiplatform journalism and the classics (Ancient Greek and Latin). On campus, she serves as an assistant managing editor at The Diamondback.

SavorySunday: Vegetarian Thai Basil Stir-fry

By Anastazja Kolodziej

For this week, I wanted to make a recipe that allows the Thai basil from our community garden plot to really shine. The best part of this stir-fry — which has the Thai basil as one of its main flavors — is that you can customize it as you wish. You can include other vegetables, add meat or tofu, or swap the rice for noodles! This recipe makes four servings.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 cups rice
• 2 green peppers, cut into strips
• 5 carrots, julienned
• 12 oz green beans 
• 5 cloves of garlic, minced 
• 1 cup Thai basil, loosely packed 
• 3 tbsp vegetable oil
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tsp light brown sugar
• Water

Steps: 

• Cook rice according to package instructions.
• Warm a pan and add oil. When shimmering, add garlic. Once the garlic is fragrant, add carrots, peppers, and green beans.
• Meanwhile, combine soy sauce, fish sauce, sugar, and water in a bowl to make the sauce. 
• When the vegetables are soft, add sauce to the pan and mix thoroughly. 
• Once the rice is done, add Thai basil to the stir-fry and let it wilt. Serve the meal with the rice on the bottom, topped with the stir-fried vegetables and sauce. 

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"Savory Sunday" is a weekly summer blog series with seasonal recipes from the garden.

About the Author:

 Anastazja Kolodziej is a rising senior at the University of Maryland, double majoring in multiplatform journalism and the classics (Ancient Greek and Latin). On campus, she serves as an assistant managing editor at The Diamondback.

SavorySunday: Burst Cherry Tomato Pasta

By Anastazja Kolodziej

For this week, I picked two pints of gorgeous and delicious cherry tomatoes grown in our community plot by a fellow intern,Hadley Baker. You can make the tomatoes in this recipe as structured or saucy as you like — for a saucier dish, keep the tomatoes on the pan for longer. This recipe makes four dinner servings. 

Ingredients:

·  1 lb pasta

·  2 pints halved or quartered cherry tomatoes

·  3 medium garlic cloves, chopped finely

·  1 cup of basil, chopped coarsely, plus more for garnish

·  1/4 cup olive oil

·  Salt, to taste

·  Pepper, to taste

·  Lemon pepper, to taste

·  Shredded parmesan or mozzarella cheese, to serve

Steps:

·  Cook pasta al dente, according to package instructions.

·  Meanwhile, warm olive oil in a pan. Once it’s shimmering, add garlic and cook until fragrant.

·  Add tomatoes, salt, pepper, and lemon pepper and cook until tomatoes burst, stirring occasionally. 

·  Once the tomatoes have reached your desired level of sauciness, add basil. When the basil is incorporated, add pasta to the pan and mix until the sauce covers pasta well. Serve with cheese and top with basil.

PIN THIS FOR LATER!

"Savory Sunday" is a weekly summer blog series with seasonal recipes from the garden.

About the Author:

 Anastazja Kolodziej is a rising senior at the University of Maryland, double majoring in multiplatform journalism and the classics (Ancient Greek and Latin). On campus, she serves as an assistant managing editor at The Diamondback.