Elder

Elder

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Elder is a valuable wild edible tree or shrub. Its berries have a cornucopia of uses.

Scientific name

Sambucus nigra

Family

Adoxaceae

Botanical description

A small tree or shrub growing up to 10 m. The bark is brownish grey, deeply furrowed and gnarled in appearance. The leaves are long, oval and slightly serrated. Elderflowers appear as clusters of small white blossoms. The fruits are purplish black.

Status

Deciduous tree. Native.

Habitat and distribution

Elder is found in deciduous woodland, downs, hedgerows, river banks, roadsides, scrub, and wasteland.

Photo identification

Reliable resources for accurate botanical photo identification of field bindweed.

Parts used for food

Fruit and flowers.

Harvest time

Flowering around spring to early summer, and fruits around midsummer to autumn.

Food uses of elder

Elderberries can be made into jams, jellies, preserves, pies, soups, sauces, chutneys, juices and wine. In fact, this list is not exhaustive. Elderflowers can be steeped to make flower vinegar. The blossoms are also often used to flavour fizzy drinks and sparkling wines or to make elderflower tea.

Nutritional profile of elder

Elderberries are very high in vitamin C.

Elder recipes

Herbal medicine uses of elder

Elderberry syrup or sweets treats sore throats, coughs and colds. An infusion of elderflowers can also be drunk to relieve hay fever or stress.

Other uses

Elderflowers are commonly used today by the cosmetic industry in skin and eye ointments, lip balms, sun lotions and fragranced hair, shower and hair products.

Safety note

Despite its long, widespread use in human culture and its continued use in the food, cosmetic and herbal medicine industries today, several authorities suggest that further investigation of the safety aspect of using Elder as a culinary or medicinal herb is required. Check first with a healthcare professional before using homemade Elder products, and, as a precaution, avoid them during pregnancy or breastfeeding.

References

Barnes, J. et al. (2013) Herbal medicines. 4. rev. ed. London: Pharmaceutical Press.

Cleene, M. de & Lejeune, M. C. (2002) Compendium of symbolic and ritual plants in Europe. Ghent: Man & Culture.

Paine, A. (2006) The healing power of Celtic plants: their history, their use, and the scientific evidence that they work. Winchester: O Books.

Lim, T. K. (2012) Edible medicinal and non-medicinal plants: volume 1, fruits. Dordrecht: Springer.

Elderberry and nettle honey elixir

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With Autumn definitely on its way, and the sun starts setting early, now is the perfect time to give you body a boost with this delicious, nourishing and health-boosting elixir.

I’ve been making it for quite a few weeks using dried elderberries from last year and dried nettle that I had gathered this Spring. I have to say that I can’t keep my hand out of the fridge with this one. With no sugar and only the scrummy, warming flavour of organic honey to sweeten it, even the most risk-averse inner child (or outer one for that matter) will love it!

Ingredients

  • 4tsps of dried stinging nettles
  • 2 cups of boiling water
  • ½ cup of dried elderberries
  • 1 cup of cold water
  • 340 grams of organic honey with royal jelly

Instructions

  1. The night before, put the nettle into a heat-resistant jar with a lid and add the boiling water. You can use a saucepan if you like) Leave to infuse overnight—the strain in the morning, reserving the liquid.
  2. Next, put the elderberries into a pan, add the nettle liquid and the cold water, then bring to a simmer, and keep simmering for 30 minutes without a lid.
  3. Remove from heat and allow to cool, add honey, stir, pour into sterile bottles, and then keep in the refrigerator.

Makes: Approximately 500ml

Prince of Wales ketchup

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If you love elderberries then the chances are you will have come across Pontack sauce. Pontack is a Worcestershire sauce mimic, yet few have heard about Prince of Wales Ketchup.

I rooted around to find the original Prince of Wales Ketchup recipe and trace the history of it.

For years I had loved Mrs. Beeton for writing her ‘Book of Household Management’, that was until I discovered she had plagiarised her entire work by copying and pasting from earlier authors. Still that doesn’t detract from the fact there are some cracking recipes in it. But I was intrigued, who was the elusive creator of the Prince of Wales Ketchup recipe or Catsup as they used to call it in the 1800s.

The original Prince of Wales Ketchup recipe was created by a certain Mrs. Dalgairns, a British North American who was born on Prince Edward Island, although many assumed her to be Scottish due to what one reviewer called “too palpable an addiction to Scottish dishes”. She was a prolific writer who penned a 30 year long bestseller called ‘The Practice of Cookery’ comprising 1434 recipes. The first edition was printed in 1829, long before Mrs. Beeton’s own book went into print!

Unlike Mrs. Beeton, Mrs. Dalgairns created recipes that where original, with The Spectator magazine declaring her to be “far more copious, far more various and to us more novel” than two then famous celebrity cooks of the time, namely Mrs. Rundell and Dr. Kitchiner. Both of whose names where renowned in kitchens of the English speaking world.

So there you have it, an interesting tale about the origin of Prince of Wales Ketchup recipe.

Ingredients

  • 3 cups elderberries
  • 500ml cider vinegar
  • 7 anchovies
  • 3 shallots
  • 1tsp whole cloves
  • 1tsp ground mace
  • 1tsp ground ginger
  • 1tsp grated nutmeg

Instructions

  1. Destalk the elderberries, and leave in a bowl over night. In the morning any maggots will have crawled out. Yes there will be a lot of them, still its all extra protein!
  2. Next wash the elderberries, and strain in a colander, then put into an ovenproof dish.
  3. Pour over the cider vinegar, and place in an oven at 150degrees for 2 hours, then allow to stand for three hours. Strain through muslin.
  4. Next add the anchovies, shallots, cloves, mace, ginger and nutmeg, and simmer until the anchovies have dissolved. Strain and when cool, pour into sterilised bottles. Store for at least six months before using, and preferably a few years.

Elderberry balsamic vinegar

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This elderberry vinegar recipe makes a unique alternative to traditional Balsamic vinegar. Deep, rich, and beautifully smooth it goes extremely well as a salad dressing. It can also be used as a ‘hot toddy’ to ward of the Winter sniffles.

Ingredients

  • 400g ripe Elderberries
  • 500ml of organic red wine vinegar
  • 700g of organic cane sugar

Instructions

  1. Put Elderberries in a bowl and pound lightly with the end of a rolling pin.
  2. Pour over the red wine vinegar, and cover with muslin. Leave for five days.
  3. Strain through a fine sieve, and pour the liquid into a saucepan.
  4. Add the sugar, and warm until dissolved. Keep stirring, so the sugar doesn’t burn or start to caramelise. Then bring to a rolling boil and simmer for 10 minutes.
  5. Now pour into sterilised bottles and cap. Make sure you use cork or plastic topped caps otherwise, they will corrode due to the vinegar.

Makes: 600ml

Elderberry cordial syrup

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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).

In one placebo-controlled, double-blind study conducted by Israeli virologist Dr. Madeleine Mumcuoglu, 93.3% of the people taking an elderberry preparation reported significant improvement in influenza symptoms within 2 days of starting it, compared with the 6 days it took for the placebo group to see improvement. REF

Antiviral effectiveness of elderberry

Warning: Do not drink raw elderberry juice as it is toxic. “The berries must be cooked sufficiently to avoid the risk of nausea or vomiting or cyanide toxicity.” REF.

Ingredients

  • Bucket of Elderberries
  • Granulated sugar
  • Cloves

Instructions

  1. Cut the Elderberries just below the stalks.
  2. Use a fork to remove the Elderberries from the stalks into a bowl.
  3. Place the Elderberries in a saucepan with enough water to cover them.
  4. Simmer for 20 minutes.
  5. Strain the Elderberry mixture through a muslin or straining bag, squeezing to ensure you get all the juice out.
  6. Add 1lb of granulated sugar and 12 cloves for each pint of juice.
  7. Boil the mixture for 10 minutes.
  8. Allow the Elderberry mixture to cool, and then bottle in sterilised glass bottles, ensuring that the caps have a plastic seal.
  9. Add an equal amount of the cloves to each bottle you make up.

The elderberry cordial syrup will last up to two years.