The Elderberries (Sambucus nigra) are abundant this year. Great bunches of them are hanging off the branches, bowing down almost begging to be picked and made into an Elderberry Cordial Syrup.
As humans we can benefit a lot from Elderberry culinary delights. In folklore Elderberries have been used as a protection against influenza. World renowned Israeli virologist Dr. Madeleine Mumcuoglu has dedicated her life to researching the health benefits of Elderberry extract, and has established a clinically proven treatment against flu (including swine flu and avian flu).
Ingredients
- Bucket of Elderberries
- Granulated sugar
- Cloves
Suggested Instructions
- Cut the Elderberries just below the stalks.
- Use a fork to remove the Elderberries from the stalks into a bowl.
- Place the Elderberries in a saucepan with enough water to cover them.
- Simmer for 20 minutes.
- Strain the Elderberry mixture through a muslin or straining bag, squeezing to make sure you get all the juice out.
- For each pint of juice you get, add 1lb of granulated sugar and 12 cloves.
- Boil the mixture for 10 minutes.
- Allow the Elderberry mixture to cool, and then bottle in sterilised glass bottles, making sure that the caps have a plastic seal.
- Add an equal amount of the cloves to each bottle you make up.
The Elderberry cordial syrup will last up to two years.
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To say I dislike the taste of cloves is an understatement. In your recipe for Elderberry cordial are they included for anything other than flavour? Can I leave them out or replace with something else?
Thanks
Simon: The cloves act as a preservative. So if you don’t use cloves then make sure you sterilise your bottles really well. Maybe add some citric or tartaric acid. For every 500ml of liquid add one teaspoon of citric acid or tartaric acid. Good luck with the experiment!
Hi, I do like cloves but wondered if you could add other spices to the cloves for a more balanced spicy flavour? Otherwise I think the cloves would be too overpowering, would love to have any suggestions.
Hi Simon,
I’ve seen other recipes on the internet (been obsessively looking at them all!!), and some people use a squirt of lemon juice instead of cloves; others use equal amounts of honey to berries, e.g. 1 cup of berries and 1 cup of honey with no cloves….made the honey version last night and it’s gorgeous, but going to make it with cloves today to see which I like best!
Good luck!
Angie: Using wild foods is alot about undomesticating yourself and playing with new ingredients. So feel free to experiment and come up with new flavours.
Kate: So which one did you like best?
Ha ha! It’s funny that your last post mentions playing around, as in the end I used the honey, but put cloves in! I like the idea of using honey rather than sugar because of the natural antiseptic nature of it, but like the little kick cloves give it (even though I hate cloves, I couldn’t taste it so much)
Haven’t tried with lemon juice yet though…perhaps that is for the next batch!
I’ve been making what I call Hedgerow Cordial all of my 3 batches have contained considerate amounts of elderberries but they also have included varying amounts of brambles (blackberries), rosehips, rowan berries, and a bit of this and a dash of that (spices including mixed spice which has cloves in it and/or apples or any other fruit that needed using up) i even tossed in some of my cherry tomatoes I’d grown but didn’t like the texture of (rosehips have a similar taste to tomato so I took a chance and it worked!).
I’ve added about 2/3rds sugar in grams per ml of liquid and I have washed all jars and lids in a bleach water solution (10 parts water to 1 part bleach) and have put all jars in the oven for 20 minutes at 120C. So far doing this everything is keeping quite nicely. I believe being very cautious with the sterilising and the combination of hedgerow fruits helps a lot. The rowan berries contain a very large concentration of vitamin C so I’ve made certain to add them in every batch to help preserve the cordial better but it’s really the elderberries I’m after, I have no intention of getting the flu this year and my cupboard stocked full of cordial will attest to that! 1 tbsp a day for everyone in the family from now til it’s gone!
Great Recipe thanks – I just collected today a bucket each of elderberries, brambles and sloes from the lake district where I am near for a few weeks. The hedgerows are teeming with fruits. I like to leave a third of every ’stem’ branch for the birds to share (I am the greedier of course).
I wanted to say in Sweden I make LOTS of redcurrant syrup also blackcurrant too. For a winter concoction I bring some back here and then make a recipe that is different every year according to what’s available. I add to the pot ginger – powder, grated and also a few pinches of some kind of chilli – added heat! I use less sugar but add some citric acid or lemons. And I ’soak’ and cook the bottles in boiling water on the stove for 5 / 6 minutes or so.
I then add at the end some of my already made redcurrant syrup — great for warding off colds – haven’t had one for several years !!
please forgive my ignorance as im new to the foraging game !
would you use this as a cordial or straight ?
Craig: You use it diluted with water like a regular cordial. If you are using it as a flu prevention then take 1 tablespoon daily neat.
I love using honey with this recipe as it is medicinal especially the more raw and local it is. Add in towards the end with out boiling or simmering to keep the medicinal qualities. You can also use a little alcohol, brandy is commom, as a preservative if you don’t like the cloves.
I would love to try this recipe but, alas, no elderberry bushes in our area. I did, however, order some organic dried elderberries online. Any suggestions on how best to prepare this cordial using dried elderberries rather than fresh? Thanks! Any help in keeping the family healthy naturally is MUCH appreciated.
Rachel: I’ve never used dried elder berries, but I would soak them for half a day in the water before you simmer as in Step 4. Be interesting to know how it turns out. Can you pop back and post your results?
Well, I did the cordial using dried elderberries. I did not soak them as you suggested because I forgot to. LOL
I put one cup of water and one cup of dried elderberries to boil. Once it began to boil, I lowered the temperature slightly and allowed it to simmer for 45 minutes. 15 minutes before it was done, I added 12 cloves to the mixture.
After the time was up, I strained the mixture through my tripod tomato sauce strainer with a bowl underneath it to catch the juices. It has a wooden pestle for mashing the fruit with which helped me to collect as much of the juice as I could.
Once it was completed strained, I added one cup of honey to the mixture, stirring until it was well blended and then bottled it in my pre-sterilized bottle.
I had a devil of a time finding bottles but, finally, found a package of two oil and vinegar bottles that had tops which would seal. I found these at CostPlus for $3.99 for the set of two.
I quite enjoy the cordial. The clove adds an interesting flavor. My husband and children don’t care for the clove taste. I’m going to make another batch without the clove this time, either substituting brandy or citric acid for the preservative.
My research has shown that honey itself is a preservative. Has anyone had any experience on how well this works? I’d like to keep it as simple as possible.
Thanks for having this site and for all the suggestions. It’s been quite exciting making my first batch of cordial!
EDIT: My post above was from memory but while cleaning out my notebooks, I found the one I’d used while making the cordial.
I actually used, 1/2 cup dried elderberries and 3 cups distilled water. All the other steps remained the same.
Thanks for all the info. How do you dry the elderberries? Interested because it is foraging time in New Zealand now.
Marianne: I only use fresh elderberries. If you want to dry them I suggest using a food dehydrator.
Have any of you tried to make elderflower cordial. I have found numerous recipes but it does not seem to last very long. Do you have any suggestions?
Rachel – With elderflower cordial you might want to put it in plastic bottles and freeze it… yeah I know, not much good if the electricity goes down!
Well I have just found this site. I was googling for Elderberry recipes. I am a jam making junkie. I have just made some Elderberry and Apple jam, mixed fruit jam and Hedgerow jam for our church summer fair. They were snatching them out of my hands as I took them out of my bag. I am really interested in trying this cordial recipe. Can I put it in jars instead of bottles? I get loads of jars, but no bottles. Thanks.
Course you can Mary, course you can
I made a lovely elderflower cordial in the summer; light and fresh. Three bottles got drunk in a week or so! Tonight I am going to make the elderberry cordial from the berries in the garden. Just been to the park to get the last of the blackberries – I might add those too. Elder is one of the most resouceful trees. It is so generous with its fruits and flowers.