Elderberries

[ffemt128]

Doug, you are one dedicated picking fool! Good luck

my elderberries are still very green, at least a good 3 weeks or a month before I pick and the ones at camp are just finishing flowering

I knew it wouldn't be much but from the road they looked good. I finished de-berrying the stems. Ended up with 14.5 oz of berries and tossed about 1/4 cup non-ripe floaters.

Next week should be very productive based on what I saw today. Some of the bushes are all green but the primary ones from last year are a dark red to purple right now. Given the rain yeasterday and the head we should get some good juicy plump berries.

With what I have left from last year and what I picked today I have almost enough for a 5 gallon batch. Ooooooh Baaaaaby.......

 

[docanddeb]

Have you made it before? We just love it. I'm going to do some port this year. It makes excellent Pee, by the way. Have your lemon ready and when you pull the bag from the original... just plop it in the Pee. Mine is almost 2 yrs old now and it's still amazing!! We just love it ice cold! I just made some iced tea with rasp/elder syrup for flavor and sweetening. You just can't have TOO MANY elderberries!

Debbie

 

[ffemt128]

Have you made it before? We just love it. I'm going to do some port this year. It makes excellent Pee, by the way. Have your lemon ready and when you pull the bag from the original... just plop it in the Pee. Mine is almost 2 yrs old now and it's still amazing!! We just love it ice cold! I just made some iced tea with rasp/elder syrup for flavor and sweetening. You just can't have TOO MANY elderberries!

Debbie

I made 3 batches last year and a batch of Elderberry Blueberry which is 8 months old now. We have one original bottle of Elderberry left. I'll be making lots this year and aging.

 

[docanddeb]

It's great oaked too!

Debbie

 

[BobF]

It's great oaked too!

Debbie

Yes it is! Just added oak to my latest 6g batch yesterday

 

[ffemt128]

It's great oaked too!

Debbie

We used medium toast french cubes in it last year. Excellent oaked. Looking forward to building up the berry suppy this year. Extra carboys recently acquired will come in handy.

 

[ffemt128]

Well I ventured out again this morning in search of berries. I went to my normal locations. I decided not to ventur back to the one place for another 2 weeks. THe berries closest to the road are just too much of a thicket to bother with at this point. The 3 large bushes in this location can be accessed from above with relative ease. The other location I go to, the bush was relatively in good shape. I picked just under 6 lbs of ripe berries and about 12 oz of floaters. Next week should be another good week. Will be out at 6:15 again.

 

[BobF]

Doug -

Out of curiosity, what method of destemming do you use?

'09 I did a few freezing, then manually unfrozen. '10 I did some manually, then use the cooling rack screen method.

When my own crop matures, I hope to be able to 'bang the bucket' at optimal stages, but for this year it will be the screen again.

 

[ffemt128]

I fill a bucket with cold water, place clusters into bucket. In another bucket I will hold the cluster in one hand and fan my finger through the berries dropping into the second bucket of water. Ripe ones sink, non ripe ones float, scoop floaters with small colendar every so often. It took me about an hour this morning to do a 6 gallon bucket filled 2/3rds full. Of course there were interuptions as my 4 y/o was helping.

I found last year the bang the bucket method did not work well, as berries didn't all come off the stems. Never tried the pre-freezing method as I'm limited to freezer space and as far as running over a screen, I an likely use my above method quicker and be more effective. JMHO.

 

[docanddeb]

I have tried all methods as well. The freeze method didn't work on my type of berries very well. Even the float method seems to lose berries that are viable. It's those little stems that are the worst! We now pick just once and spend 5-6 hrs destemming 2-3 5gal buckets of berries. I have a steam juicer that works so nice. This year I'm going to spend less time on the little stems as I read someone said with steam juicing as opposed to fermenting on the little buggers isn't going to affect the flavor. THAT would be a blessing for sure! I then freeze the juice in gallon milk jugs if I don't have a carboy available for immediate fermenting. Our freezer space is limited as well due to vegetable storage.

Debbie

 

[ffemt128]

Went out again this morning to an alternate location. I picked about 3/4 of a bucket, lots of stems with this batch due to where they were. I ended up with 4 lbs 6 oz of elderberries. So far this year, I'm at about 12 lbs. Off to a good start. I won't head back to this one for another 2 weeks probably to make it more worth while. Bill be back at the primary location next weekend though.

 

[Arne]

Way back at the start of this thread I was talking about the currant cuttings. They have been potted and sitting on the front porch with some of Kathy's flowers. By being there they get watered every day or so. She called me out there Sat. Something (she says grasshoppers) ate all the leaves off them. Have 3 Sticks now. They did not touch the flowers, just the currants. The big bushes out back are ok. Guess I will take the stems inside and see if they will leaf out again. Arne.

 

[docanddeb]

THAT is maddening!! I hope for the best!

Debbie

 

[Boyd]

Last year I made a 15 Gal. carboy, plus, 5 gal each of elderberry/marquette grape, and, 5 gal. elderberry/black raspberry.

Bottled the elderberry near the end of June. 70 bottles, all gone except for 2 bottles in about 2 weeks.

One old gal, a Delta pilot called me about 9:00 in the evening to tell me it was the best wine she ever tasted. Gave them a case as her husband runs a well company and treats me good when I have a problem.

Another old gal tells me she has a medical problem and drinks a small amount every day and that releaves the problem.

I freeze mine in a plastic bag and then beat them with the flat of my hand. shaking them raises the stems to the top to pick them out. A small amount of the real little stems do not seem to hurt any thing and no one has gotten sick.

I have noticed that there is a large amount of condensation on the inner surface of the bag and suspect it is mostly juice from the stems.

Hope to do 30 gallons this year.

 

[docanddeb]

Boyd,

Do you pick wild or cultivated berries? We have some cultivated planted, but not enough room to really get a usable crop. We have plenty of wild ones around us.

Debbie

 

[Boyd]

WIld elderberry, black raspberry and grapes.

Part of the fun is picking wild berries.

I also have 25 Marquette grapes. Had 25 fantinacs but the neighborin farmer treated them to spray when he did is corn in a heavy wind.

I need to look into that as I have about 4 years of work in those grapes in addition to the cost of the grapes.

This year I bought 33 lbs of wild blueberrie in No. MN.

 

[docanddeb]

We love foraging for wild fruit as well.

Debbie

 

[ffemt128]

I actually look forward to my weekly 6:00 am trips in search of berries. I come home and my 4 y/o and I de-stem them together while drinking coffee and she eats her breakfast.

 

[jtstar]

WIld elderberry, black raspberry and grapes.

Part of the fun is picking wild berries.

I also have 25 Marquette grapes. Had 25 fantinacs but the neighborin farmer treated them to spray when he did is corn in a heavy wind.

I need to look into that as I have about 4 years of work in those grapes in addition to the cost of the grapes.

This year I bought 33 lbs of wild blueberrie in No. MN.

Check your state laws in some state vineyard are protected under the law but in some states you have to be registered with the state I believe

 

[Boyd]

Problem with grand children is that they out grow us old farts.