“Your mother was a hamster… and your father smelt of Elderberries!”
Forever entrenched in the vernacular of pop culture, are the familiar quotes from a Monty Python movie. Regular readers of the Blue Heron Blog will have picked up on my love of “Python” humor, and every year just about this time I find myself repeating the above quote over and over again. The reason, American Elder (Sambucus canadensis) or Edlerberry, is in bloom.
A native to Eastern North America, Elderberry is found along roadsides, riverbanks, forest edges and fields. Most often it goes unnoticed, until about this time every year, when creamy white blossoms cover the plant.
The blossom is followed later in the season by very tasty deep blue or purple berry, used to make jams, syrups, pies, and of course Elderberry Wine. So next time your passing a field and you see this plant…
think about the sweet purple treat that will soon be covering it, and if you can beat the birds and pick some, try making Elderberry Wine. But steer clear of any hamsters!
For more about this Great Native Plant,visit the USDA Plant Guide
All the best,
Scott
And then there are the flowers … I wonder if one could use the flowers to create an American version of St-Germain? http://www.stgermain.fr/process.php I’ve only recently discovered a wonderful summer cocktail made from 2 parts Champagne, 2 parts bubbly water and 1.5 parts St-Germain liqueur!
I’ll have to give that cocktail a try! I did read that the entire flower of the Elder is edible, so who knows.
I love elder, and it is so beautiful blooming right now. I make an English Elder Flower Cordial, well that’s the name of it, not sure if it’s really English or not. Delicious! Here’s the recipe:
5 cups water
3 pounds sugar
1 lemon, sliced
25 large elder flower heads
6 tbsp citric acid
sparkling or mineral water to dilute
Place the water in a pan and bring to a boil. Add the sugar and lemon, remove from heat, and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Return to heat and bring to a boil. Add elder flower heads and citric acid. Bring to a boil again and then remove from heat, leave covered until it is cool. Strain and bottle in clean bottles with corks. This can be used immediately, to store keep in a cool dark place and it will keep up to 3 months. To serve, dilute with 5 parts mineral water and ice.
This does make ALOT of syrup (about 2 quarts), so I cut the recipe in half and still have enough enough for entertaining and myself. I have also substituted honey for the sugar and it comes out okay, but I prefer the consistency of the sugar.
Elder flowers are cooling and detoxifying, and is high in Vitamin C. This is one of my favorite drinks this time of year.
Linda, Thanks for the recipe, it sounds delicious!
I love them so much… The smell is fantastic, nearly to heaven, syrup is cool, even cooler is Shebesa (word from Slovenian language). Shebesa is great drink which is made like this: A lot of this flowers in a lot of water, lemon, sugar … and with right recipe is made in one week and best to drink after 4 weeks… Feels like little alcoholic, or beer like, but is not… It’s just very cool. CHEERS!
Thank you for that recipe Tomaz, sounds delish!
Oh yes, also vinegar is in… very important… recipe here:
http://www.gurman.eu/recepti.php?S=6&Article=463