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Post by Toby Benoit on Jul 8, 2008 14:30:39 GMT 12.75
I plumb stumbled into the longest stretch of elderberries I've seen since I was a kid. There's a big slough that's about half dried out leading into the Withlacoochee on some land a buddy of mine's buying and asked me to go take a look at.
The place was fantastic, but what caught my attention first was all them elderberries. They're just as ripe as can be and sweet too!
So, Me, Chicken, and Fred will be picking as many as we can tomorro looking forward to some jelly and if we get enough, a little wine too.
Anybody ever use elderberries in any recipes other than jelly or wine? Can you use them in pies or cobblers? What about in pastries?
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Post by Snake Eyes on Jul 8, 2008 23:52:08 GMT 12.75
Toby, Try to google elderberries!From what I see you can use them in about anything you ask about.Looks to me like you would treat them much the same as blueberries.But I am no expert on berries. BTW, What did Chicken find out about the berries she was trying to unsour? snake-eyes
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Post by Paws on Jul 9, 2008 0:26:18 GMT 12.75
You lucky dog! Partner I know as much about elderberrys as I do them Haw Paws; Nothin'! (See, can't even spell it!)
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Post by brittonfaith on Jul 9, 2008 5:00:48 GMT 12.75
The place was fantastic, but what caught my attention first was all them elderberries. They're just as ripe as can be and sweet too! Sweet elderberries??? I love elderberries, but there's nothing sweet about raw ones. More like a real pungent bitter sour blackberry taste. We've got tons of them that are still green around here. Down in the swampy areas along SR93 I bet we could easily fill a pick-up bed full. Biggest clusters I've seen in years. Some are nearly 12 inches across. In Ohio, they are usually ripe around the 20th of August - maybe a little bit sooner this far south. Mike's got his eye on them for some wine making. I'm gonna let him do the picking 'cause I'm skeered of them snakes. I usually will make jelly or jam and add them to apple pies or apple fritters for a seasonal treat. For pie, I'd say a cup or so of berries added to the apples should be enough. You might want to up the sugar some. Don't forget, you can freeze them for later. Just strip 'em from the clusters and stick 'em in a bag. We've also canned the juice and saved it for making wine or jelly on down the road.
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Post by Toby Benoit on Jul 9, 2008 16:47:38 GMT 12.75
Faith, "sweet" is a relative term with elderberries. These don't pucker your sphyncter when you chew up a mouth full. Taste more like a thick mulberry flavor to 'em. Thanks a bunch! Ill add 'em into a pie and see how i like 'em. Snake, thanks a bunch. I'll google and take a look. Prolly gotta add a little more sugar when I bake with 'em, but I'll get Chicken experimenting. She did pretty good that last pie she did. She put in a little salt and lemon with the berries and it tamed them down a bit. Still on the tart side, but pleasant. I''ve got a picture of her and the last pie she asked me to post for Paws, but I forgot to. I'll see if I can find it and get it up there. Paws, you got too much "Billy Yank" in ya! You don't know nuttin about these southern berries do ya? ;D
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Post by Paws on Jul 9, 2008 22:33:27 GMT 12.75
You know I Googled the elderbery and damned if I ain't been eatin' thgm since I was old enough to crawl into the woods and catch poisen ivy! We kids called them "fox grapes". I always thought they were some kind of Poke berry , or what we called "Shoemake" (for sumac I guess) or maybe just a small grape. We never gathered them for the house as I recall but sure ate a bunch of them on our walk-a-bouts and camp outs.
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