sambucas nigra

I have a sambucas nigra-the black elderflower bush and i wondered if when the elderberrys come if you can use them the same way as the ordinary elderberrys, like for making jams and wines etc?


Id be greatful for any information



have a great day


Willow

 

Remember seeing a recipe on another website I go on for pink elderflower champagne, remember quite a few members tried it and said it was delicious, I'll see if I can find the recipe and post it for you, think I saved it to try myself, didn't get round to it last year though.

 

thanks simbad,i'll look forward to it

 

Pink Elderflower Cordial

20 Elderflower heads
3 & half pound sugar
3 pint boiled water, cooled
2 oz tartaric acid
2 sliced lemons

Put all the ingredients in a large pan & stir periodically for 24 hours, then strain & bottle.
Dilute to taste with water or fizzy mineral water
It is ready to drink immediately, but will keep for several months if kept in fridge, or it can be frozen to keep longer.
Enjoy.

Found it Willow, cordial though not champagne, must have alcohol on the brain,lol.

 

thats great simbad, sounds lovely.


Willow

 

Must try this one

Spruce

 

If pasteurised in bottles will keep even longer.

 

Sambucus nigra is the ordinary elderberry, they just have a lot of local names.

The berries are slightly poisonous raw, they make the world fall out of your bottom.

The Jews Ear fungus that grows on the trunk in the winter is edible, needs cooking for about 20 mins to make it tender though.

Made Elderberry champagne once, it had pink froth.

 

Have to disagree with you in one respect, Ziggy. Sambucus nigra has purple leaves, Sambucus aurea has golden leaves. The common or garden Elder has green leaves. It`s only the red berried varieties which may be poisonous.

 

Hi Dai,

Whats the Latin for the common elder then ? and I dare you to make a smoothy out of raw elderberries & drink it

 

http://www.kew.org/plants-fungi/Sambucus-nigra.htm

 

Or were you thinking of this variety

http://www.rainyside.com/features/plant_gallery/shrubs/Sambucus_nigra.html

 

The berries of the common elder are slightly poisonous. They contain some sort nerve chemical that makes you get palpitations and go dizzy and your limbs go a bit weak and shakey, and then you throw up AND have to hurry to the loo.

I know this because when I was a kid, several times I 'proved' to my mates that they were edible, before giving up. Then several years later I read about them being poisonous.

The offending chemical is easily destroyed though. Cooking, even briefly, destroys the toxin. I'm fairly sure the toxin is also destroyed during fermentation because I've drunk much elderberry wine before (sometimes in one go) and so far not died, but I can't remember if the berries were briefly boiled before being juiced.

 

Can give you a hell of a hangover too. English elderberrys are used in port production. Did I ever tell you about the time I tried to eat a whole Stilton whilst drinking a whole bottle of port ?

 

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