Elderberries, yum!

Well, we just got back from a vacation to the Oregon/Northern California coast. Despite the smoke, it was awesome! I've forgotten how green and wet it is there! I really miss the nice swimming holes with clean water. Best of all, though, I found some elderberries! I haven't really had any since we moved away from that part of the country. I'm growing some, but they're young and have only just started production.

These ones are sambucus cerulea,
blue elderberries. They and the red are the types that grow out there. To my knowledge, the red are not edible, although I've heard of people eating them, so don't take that as gospel! However, the blue ones are very good and make nice wine, jelly, syrup, juice, etc. Since I have kiddos, most of mine are going to syrup. Fruit syrups are such a nice change on pancakes and waffles.

Anyway, I picked all I could fit in the truck, which was not anywhere near as much as I wanted! Since the truck was packed full of us, dogs and camping gear, it was pretty full.

I have a steamer juicer that I actually bought just for processing elderberries when I lived in the PNW area. That thing is soooo much nicer than juicing them in a pot and then crushing, straining, etc. I can get more done in a batch, too.


Since it was HOT outside, I did the berries outside.

I ended up with 6 quarts of juice. I popped them in the freezer and I'll take a quart out as I need it and turn it into syrup. This should keep the medicinal qualities of the juice intact as well as being a tasty treat. And, I'm not in the mood to can in 100 degree heat!