Thursday, April 29, 2010

Elderberry Cordial

Susanna has been in a cordial making mood lately. She spoke on this topic at the PA Herb Festival and will do so again at the Baltimore Herb Festival the last Saturday in May. We also have a fun Liqueur making class scheduled here at The Rosemary House in August which features lots and lots of taste tasting!

Found a bag of frozen Elder Berries from last fall's harvest. Saved a bag of berries in case I didn't make enough elder berry syrup to last the winter. To make elder berry cordial: simmer 5 C elder berries in 2 C water and 3 C sugar. This makes a nice elder berry sugar syrup which is excellent for keeping away colds during the winter. Angelica also likes this syrup to take her herbal medicine in for her childhood asthma. It's part of the Mary Poppins's school of medicine....A teaspoon of sugar....

I also gently press out the berries using this old lemon juicer I picked up at a yard sale. I say gently press because you want only the sweet. It is also best if you simmer only berries and no stems (the stems are bitter).

Then you add that syrup to 27 oz of alcohol. Your favorite is fine. This time I used rum. YUM!

As with all liqueurs they improve with age -- Letting them sit 3-4 months is what we find to be the hardest part of the whole process. It will maintain this lovely deep purple color.

Once it has aged: use as a dressing on a salad, or mix with a lemon/lime soda as a refreshing beverage, or drizzle over ice cream. It would also be good in a trifle.

5 comments:

Time Traveling in Costume said...

OK, ship some out to me. :)
I remember my Grandma's Elderberry Jelly, and I loved it. But I haven't had any since I was a youngster. And there's none down here in So. CA. :(
Val

Marilyn Miller said...

That sounds so good. I would love it over ice cream or in a salad dressing for sure.

Bernideen said...

Terrific information here and such a lost art - such wonderful gifts!

parTea lady said...

I don't think I've ever tried Elderberries. The cordial sounds delicious.

mtg said...

This is a wonderful tutorial! I am from the country of Georgia in Eastern Europe and I remember my grandparents making this. Thanks so much for bringing back good memories.
I stumbled across your post searching how to dye with elderberry.
xx
Maya