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Award-winning chef, author and forager Alan Bergo. Food is all around you.

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Elderberry Jelly

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Elderberry JellyI brought on one of my favorite purveyors into the Salt Cellar this year for two things only: heirloom potatoes and elderberries. Granted I can get basic potatoes from other places, and I can pick elderberries myself, but getting enough elderberries to supply a restaurant is a big project.

With the elderberries, I preserved them by making a simple jelly, which we use to make things like sauces and garnishes, but it’s great as is on a cheeseboard too.

Elderberries

Elderberries, a couple stems in the mix won’t hurt you.

The recipe is simple, pick and wash the elderberries, then add them to a pot with sugar and water just until they’re nearly submerged, afterwords the berries are cooked, then strained, and then returned to another pot with the gelatin, then the syrup is cooked to melt the gelatin cooled, and stored.

The only tricky part for this is getting leaf gelatin, which I prefer over powdered. Taking this into account, I’m providing a conversion rate, but if you’re gelatin doesn’t set up nice, you can always just remelt and add more gelatin, it’s super easy. A 1/4-ounce (7g) envelope has about 2 1/4 teaspoons of powdered gelatin, and sets about 2 cups of liquid. One envelope will be roughly the equivalent of 6 sheets of leaf gelatin, so for the recipe below, you’d need about 5 envelopes of gelatin.

Elderberry Jelly

Elderberry Jelly
Print Recipe
3 from 1 vote

Elderberry Jelly 

Yield: 2 cups
Prep Time30 mins
Cook Time30 mins
Course: Appetizer, Snack
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Elderberry Jelly

Ingredients

  • 4 cups Elderberries
  • 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
  • 2 cup water
  • 2 cup sugar
  • 2 teaspoons apple pectin preferably Cuisine Tech brand

Instructions

  • Cover the elderberries with the vinegar and water, then bring to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes on low heat.
  • Drain the elderberries well and reserve the juice.
  • Put a small stainless steel bowl or plate in the freezer to do set tests, and stainless steel is preferable as metal conducts differences in temperature faster than most other food-safe items.
  • Mix the pectin and sugar.
  • Bring the elderberry juice to a simmer, then add the sugar mixture and whisk to melt. Bring the mixture to a rolling boil, and cook until it starts to hover around 220F, skimming any foam that may rise to the top that can cloud the finished jelly. Once volume of the liquid in the pan starts to drop a bit, start doing set tests, continuing to let the syrup boil.
  • To test the set, drop small 1/8 teaspoons or so of jelly on the frozen bowl, and when the liquid threatens to set and hold’s it’s shape, and doesn’t run like water immediately, pour into sterilized jars to seal, or process in a water bath.
  • This is delicate work, and many of the commercially jellies I taste made from obscure fruit seem cooked down too far to me. The sweet spot for me is usually right after the jelly hits 220-225.

Related

Previous Post: « Spring Forage with Chris Bohnhoff
Next Post: Duck Liver-Crab Apple Mousse, With Elderberry Jelly »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. sue|theviewfromgreatisland

    November 7, 2015 at 11:33 am

    This sounds like a nice alternative to cranberry sauce for the holidays!

    Reply
  2. Diane

    November 9, 2015 at 7:59 am

    Thank you for the sherry Friday night. Our favorite foraged elderberry jelly is Ull Gibben’s (sp?) elderberry and sumac jelly. Thanks for the tips on gelatin. The Salt Cellar is great!

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      November 9, 2015 at 10:53 pm

      Nice to see you too again, Diane. Thank you.

      Reply
  3. Bill McDuff

    April 23, 2016 at 1:41 pm

    I’m planning on making some elderberry jelly but I’ll be mixing with crab apples so I can avoid the gelatin.

    I like your blog covering foraging and using offal to make gourmet food.

    Giancale or salted pork cheek would be another thing you could try if you haven’t already done so.

    Regards

    Bill

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      April 28, 2016 at 8:49 am

      I love guanciale! Learned to make it while I was working with a butcher from Rome. Bucatini all’Amatriciana is a favorite pasta of mine. Thanks for the kind words.

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Duck LIver-Crab Apple Mousse, with Elderberry Jelly says:
    December 30, 2015 at 1:40 pm

    […] Elderberry jelly, as needed for sealing crocks of the mousse (see recipe here) […]

    Reply
  2. Duck LIver-Crab Apple Mousse, with Elderberry Jelly says:
    December 17, 2019 at 9:09 am

    […] See my elderberry jelly recipe here.  […]

    Reply

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FORAGER | CHEF®
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Alan Bergo
I liked the staff meal I made for Mondays shoot so I liked the staff meal I made for Mondays shoot so much we filmed it instead of the original dish I’d planned. 

Cooked natural wild rice (not the black shiny stuff) is great hot, cold, sweet or savory. It’s a perfect, filling lunch for a long day of berry picking. 

I make them with whatever I have on hand. Mushrooms will fade into the background a little here, so I use a bunch of them, along with lots of herbs and hickory nut oil + dill flowers. 

I’m eating the leftovers today back up in the barrens (hopefully) getting some more bluebs for another shoot this week w @wild.fed 

#wilwilwice #wildrice #chanterelles #campfood #castironcooking
Baby’s first homegrown mushrooms! Backyard wine Baby’s first homegrown mushrooms! Backyard wine caps on hardwood sawdust from my lumberjack buddy.

Next up blewits. Spawn from @northsporemushrooms

#winecaps #strophariaaeruginosa #allthemushroomtags
It’s wild cherry season. I’ll be picking from It’s wild cherry season. I’ll be picking from my favorite spot tomorrow a.m. and have room for a couple helpers. It’s at an event on a farm just south of St. Cloud. 

If you’re interested send me a message and I’ll raffle off the spots. Plenty of cherries to go around. I’ll be leading a short plant walk around the farm too. 

#chokecherries #foraging #prunusvirginiana #summervibes
Special thanks to the beach in Ashland for hooking Special thanks to the beach in Ashland for hooking it up with on-site garnishes. Beach pea flowers taste strong and leguminous, similar to vetch, or like a rich tasting pea shoot. 

#lathyrusjaponicus #beachpeas #peaflower #foraging #northshore #bts
Great, long day of filming in near the south shore Great, long day of filming in near the south shore of Lake Superior yesterday. 

Blueberries were sparse, and some kind of blight seems to be affecting the serviceberries. Chanterelles weren’t as good as 2020, but they were there. 

Quick dip in the Lake Superior after we broke set was a bonus. 

W/ @barebonesliving  @misterberndt @jesseroesler

#barebonesliving #foraging #lakesuperiorrocks #serviceberries #chanterelles #bts
Green ramp seed make a great lactoferment. Just pu Green ramp seed make a great lactoferment. Just put the green seeds in brine in a jar, leave for 2 weeks. 

After they’re sour they can be water bath processed, although I’ve stored them at room temp without an issue too. 

Finished product is great minced or puréed into places where you’d like garlic, capers, or both. 

Makes a great tzatziki with a little crumbled, dried bee balm. 

#tzatziki #ramps #rampseeds #foraging #fermentation
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