Elderberry Jam

Does anyone have a decent recipe for this? Or Elderberry and Apple Jam?

Most of the recipes on the net are for jelly and the few I've found for jam have no reviews and one went wrong apparently. I've just picked 5lb of elderberrries from the garden and plenty more where they came from.

Any suggestions appreciated.
GG

 

Just copy bramble jam.

Cheers, Tony.

 

I've not made elderberry jam (only wine & syrup), but I'd be wary of using a bramble recipe for elderberry jam for 3 (or possibly 4) reasons, as elderberries contain less pectin (about as much as very ripe blackberries) so I'd be considering using either pectin stock or jam sugar. They also have hardly any acid so you would need to use additional lemon juice.

Don't forget to tip into water and remove the unripe floaters with a kitchen sieve.

Because of the mass of seeds in elderberries I'd personally be tempted to make jelly, or at the very least use a jam recipe where the stewed pulp is pushed through a kitchen sieve to leave the seeds behind. From winemaking experience I'd also be looking for a recipe method where the elderberries were crushed to release their juice (which you wont see in a blackberry jam recipe).

 

Thanks both. Scrunge thanks for those tips, useful as I've never done anything with my elderberries before. As I've only tomorrow to get this sorted I think I'll try a (sieved for pips) elderberry and apple jam sort of thing as I don't have a jelly bag to go for the jelly option. Will have to wing it a bit and hope I don't end up with jars of goo. Fingers crossed.

GG

 

You can wash/skim off the unripe berries and freeze them to delay making any decision, just like with red/white/black currants. Freezing/defrosting them will also help with juice extraction as it breaks down the fruit's cell structure, releasing juices.

 

With your suggestions I ended up making Elderberry Jelly and it came out really well. Thanks for those tips.
Cheers

 

Did you add extra the extra lemon juice?, use jam sugar? how easy was it to get a set? and have you tasted it yet?

As mentioned above I haven't made it before, so was rather 'shooting from the hip' with that advice, but it's something on my to try list.

Please post a pic of what it looks like when spread on toast, bread, scones, whatever.

 

I'm glad it was a success

But seeing as we're talking about elderberries, for the benefit of anyone who might not realise, but raw elderberries are toxic. This wont be a problem with any of the common uses, as they all involve cooking the berries to some extent, and heat destroys the toxin, but just in case anyone decided to wing it with, say, elderberries in a sorbet or summer fruits with ice cream etc.

 

Thanks for replies.
Scrungee this is what I did, improvised a bit as I went along as well, as I usually always seem to do somehow. I halved the water in this recipe to begin with, thinking it sounded too much and I could add later, but only ended up using half. I used ordinary white sugar. I had more elderberries than in the recipe, so multiplied all ingredients accordingly (except water).

This is the basic recipe I used:
http://www.kitchengarden.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2144

It took a fair bit longer to set than specified on all the recipies I found, I think about 20 minutes. I never fully set my jams and try to catch them just before they set like a store bought jam, I love the very slight runniness. After 15 minutes of the rolling boil, it didn't seem to want to set so I added the juice of another lemon. And I used the plate in the freezer testing method.
It came out fabulous (if I do say so myself) and the taste is lovely, very full bodied and natural tasting. I have plenty of elderberry trees in my garden so now I've had a go, this is on my list for next autumn, and I'll be making much more than this year (got 8 Bonne Maman size jars). Here is a pic you asked for.

 

that looks delicious!

 

So it was elderberry and crab apple jelly you made?

Last year we made crab apple/sloe and crab apple/rosehip. and both were lovely.