Elderberry Liqueur

I've been toying with the idea of making my own liqueurs again. I had some good success with steeping a bag of Good Earth's Tropical Peach Black Tea in a cup vodka for a about three hours and sweetening to taste with some stevia extract. It's just sweet enough, and nice enjoyed straight or as a part of a tea martini I have yet to attempt (I refuse to call it a "tea-tini." Have some dignity, people!). I therefor decided to make use of some of the frozen elderberries I picked last October. I sware I have twelve cups of the stuff and have yet to do anything with them. I found a simple and promissing recipe from Pattie Vargas and Rich Gulling's Cordials from Your Kitchen.

Elderberries, sugar, lemon, water, and vodka...that's it. Allow a month to mature and I should have my own wild elderberry liqueur!

I reduced the original recipe by two-thirds, to make a trial batch before committing more of these hard-to-find treasures of the mountain. ^_^

I'd like to note that this is not a place to use spendy vodka, I just used Smirnoff. Though I did go for the 100-proof stuff because I'd be watering the vodka down in the process of making the liqueur.

Wild Elderberry Liqueur
Originally by Pattie Vargas and Rich Gulling
Modified by moi

1½ cups Wild Elderberries
½ cup Sugar
½ tsp. Lemon Zest
2 tsp. Lemon Juice
½ cup Water
1 cup Vodka (100-proof)

Crush the elderberries and sugar in a bowl and let sit one hour. Add lemon zest and juice, stir to combine. Transfer the elderberry mash into a clean, quart jar. Add the water and vodka. Age in a dark, cool place for one month, shaking once or twice a week.

Strain and filter the mixture, then transfer to a bottle. Age another month for best results.

Now the long wait begins..................

Elderberries

A couple of weeks ago I went foraging for elderberries in the mountains in a couple of my usual foraging grounds, and met with little success, collecting a scant 2 cups of berries. This is not to say that I didn't find any berries, I just happened upon them before the vast majority were ripe and thus, inedible. (Unlike other berries, unripe elderberries are, in fact, toxic.) So I decided to give them a couple of weeks and was rewarded with a nice haul, today!

I ended up gathering about 12 cups of ripe berries, which are now chilling in the freezer as I decide what to do with them. Any thoughts? I've made jam before, and elderberry extract to treat friends and family who get the flu, but tonight I find myself without inspiration.

Although...elderberry liqueur is certainly an intriguing thought.

To combat the flu, Elderberry Syrup.

Having been assaulted by a touch of what I believe to be the flu bug, I figured now would be a good time to make a batch of my surefire flu and cold cure, Elderberry Syrup.

I was introduced to this amazing, though simple, extract in my Ethnobotany class, a couple of years ago. Under the instruction of the genius Dr. Clark, we were exposed to many uses for wild plants. One of the most useful, Dr. Clark taught us, was the Elderberry, often known as the "people's medicine chest" because of its many medicinal uses, not the least of which is a cure for flu. There is an element in the Elderberry which prevents the flu virus from attaching itself to the cells in your body, thus preventing it from spreading. This, in turn, reduces the severity and duration of the illness.

My method is simple, first, I thawed out about three cups of elderberries. I then took my stick blender to them and pulverized them as best I could. Next, I poured the puree into a pan, added a shot of vodka (this helps to extract the beneficial alkaloids), and brought the mix to a gentle boil. Finally, I strained out the pulp and bottled my syrup.

One shot in the morning, and one shot at night, just as the shaman ordered.

If you fear the flu as well, but don't want to go through the trouble of collecting wild elderberries and making your own extract, go check out your local health food store and look for Sambucol, a popular elderberry formulation that is said to also work wonders against influenza.